The Wildcard
by Matalvis
Summary: In Plague's final moments, he flips the Enclave the bird, only to then end up in the Mass Effect univers. Mean while TIM makes Shepherd a new dossier of a man using antique weapons while giving Omegas lowlives a hard time.
1. Chapter 1

**The Wildcard**

"Bang!" shouted a deep voice, followed by a loud gunshot that echoed through the wasteland not far north of Megaton.

Plague had been salvaging some scrap metal in what used to be a house's backyard. As he was doing so he noticed a group of raiders a good distance away attacking two travelers. In response Plague pulled out his scoped magnum revolver and blew a raider's head off without having to look through the scope.

He had enough experience to know that whatever he aimed at would either be dead, or about to be.

In a fluid motion, Plague hopped the short picket fence, and fired before he hit the ground as a raider fell. He didn't care if the travelers lived, but he saw it all as some kind of game.

'Kill the attackers within a minute. Extra points if they survive. Two raiders down, one running for cover, last one is looking around for the shot's point of origin in shock like a dumbass…'

Plague repeated the rules as he charged. Ten feet away from the dumbass, Plague pulled out a sawed off shotgun from his hip and raised it up and nailed the raider with the short double barrel in the head before he noticed him coming.

The blow didn't do much damage over that spiked helm. The raider thought he got lucky, sadly he was wrong. The blow was only meant to confuse him while the attacker wrapped an armored left arm holding what looked like a polished revolver around his neck.

"Hey buddy, your friend has a gift for ya!" shouted the stranger as he spun the confused raider around, putting him in the line of friendly fire as he dropped his hunting rifle.

The raider in cover pulled the trigger of his 10mm pistol before he realized his friend was in the round's path. The raider went limp after one of the rounds hit him in the jugular as the stranger simply moved his arm out of the way. After a few seconds of silence a domed helm looked over the now dead raider's shoulder.

"Nice! Double points for friendly fire kills." shouted the helmet-wearing attacker. "Now. Got twenty seconds to live. What will you do?" he asked the shocked raider behind his rock cover.

"Did ya hear me?" he shouted when the raider didn't move. "Come on! I'm starting to get bored already."

Patience was 'NOT' one of Plague's perks. After five seconds of this short standoff Plague dropped his meat shield to show himself.

What stood there was a man with an old duster jacket. On his left arm was the arm from a suit of power armor, which looked like it had been ripped off of the suit and then fully repaired. On his right hand was a power armor gauntlet that looked as if it went through the same treatment as the arm.

He also had on some power armor boots that covered up to his knees. The dome like helmet was from an old Chinese stealth suit, but looked as if something had raked three massive claws on the left side.

"Shoot already dumbass!" Plague shouted waving his arms around in annoyance.

The raider was confused. Just a few seconds ago this armored man was on a warpath. Now he is yelling at him to shoot.

The hesitation annoyed Plague even more.

"My God! Shoot!" shouted Plague followed by a few profanities that could have been heard a mile away.

Finally the raider put aside his confusion and fired….nothing…The man was gone as if he was never there.

"Where are you?" he shouted as he spun around looking for the target.

He was answered by something revving up like a chainsaw next to him.

Before he was able to aim his gun, his hand was sawed off. Screaming in pain, the raider fell back while holding his injured arm.

"There is no kill like an overkill." said the bodiless voice.

The weapon revved up again, followed by the raider's chest exploding. Blood sprayed everywhere and covered the invisible man kneeling over the raider with what looked like a hilt sticking out of the center of the blood explosion.

The raider screamed as he felt his insides get shredded. He also frantically waved his hand and stump around only to be swatted away by the stranger's free hand.

The ripper roared loudly through the wasteland, silencing the screams. Finally when they died down, so did the engine in the ripper.

As Plague pulled out his toy he became fully visible. After putting the ripper away he turned to the terrified travelers, as his other hand pulled out a rag and started to wipe his dark blue visor.

Plague walked over and slightly bowed his head and pretended he was tilting a hat when he realized the traveler in question was a woman with brahmin-hide clothing.

"Pardon me madam. Are you and your friend alright?" Plague asked trying to charm the lady.

'It won't hurt to be a little friendly with her. Hell, it's not like there are many fine asses around.' Plague thought to himself. 'Now that I think about it, how long has it been since I've been with a women?' Plague scratched the back of his head. '…I remember. That girl I saved last month from slavers. It was an accident since I thought the slaver was a rad-scorpion from a distance. Dumbass with that dumbass spiky helmet walking behind a rock with those dumbass spikes. Damn was the ginger grateful though once I removed that collar.'

"I…I think we are fine." answered the brunette with short hair. "Clair, you alright?"

Plague stood at attention when a second girl walked around the startled brahmin. This one had long blonde hair in braids.

"I'm good but Ted's hurt." the blond said with worry.

Hoping to get in good terms with the beautiful ladies, Plague walked around the animal (after stealing a glance to the nearest human ass.) and approached a man with goggles lie still on the ground.

He also had on one of those stupid stormchaser hats all the wandering traders had for some reason.

'It's like it's a fucking membership.' Plague thought as he opened the man's shirt to inspect a nasty looking bullet hole.

Plague was about to treat the wound when he started noticing things.

'If this is a trading caravan then why are none of them armed?' the realization hit him fast. 'This man's been dead a while, the blood on him is dry… this wound was also made by a different type of gun than the raiders had. The blonde's hair is too well organized, so was the brunette's, and they looked too clean to have been traveling. The women are to lower my guard!'

Even with Plague's quick thinking, he was too late. A needle stabbed him in the neck just under his helmet.

"What the Fucking… hell?" Plague shouted as he turned.

The girls looked at him with smiles as an Enclave transport ship came into view far behind them.

"Y…ou. The…Hell?" Plague mumbled as the sedative took effect.

Plague knew he didn't have much time. He turned and stumbled in Megaton's direction.

"the sheriff…he owes me… must signal."

He didn't make it five feet before he fell to his knees.

The girls walked next to him to make sure he wouldn't get far. One stood on both sides of him while the blonde readied another syringe to his right.

"At least we don't have to pay those bastards." the brunette stated as she looked back at the carnage.

"I guess there is always a silver lining. By the way, did you see him stare at your ass?"

The brunette looked to the blond in shock.

"Why are you surprised? We are supposed to seduce him." the blonde said followed by laughter.

"NO. NO. NO. I was supposed to be all nice and trusting. 'You' are the one who was supposed to seduce him with that cleavage you have." the brunette was now pointing at the blonde.

The conversation was interrupted by a hollow chuckle from the man.

Bath girls jumped. They thought he was out.

"Too… bad. Your m…missing out." Plague mumbled.

"What the hell? They said inject the whole thing." the brunet shouted to the blond.

"I did!" the blond raised the first needle as proof.

"Don't… worry your pretty… little heads" Plague started. "Well… don't worry about me anyway." the girls hung on every word as if the one talking was a corpse. "Let me guess… Enclave offered ya…both a deal?" the deadly silence answered the question for him. "Not the first time… I've seen them hire civilians. They are tight on… resources and funding."

"What are you implying?" the brunette asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

Plague let out another chuckle.

"They've… even tried to hire me. There is a reason... I don't accept… used sniper rounds… as payment."

Bath girls looked at each other with fear on the faces.

Plague was a killer, but he had always had a soft spot for damsels in distress. He had killed men and women, yes. But he would always give the ladies a chance to put the guns down and walk away.

"Sadly… I can't help ya… It's too late for me. You two can get away. Run… for it. Get… to Megaton… Tell 'em Plague sent ya…"

The girls had been silent as Plague spoke. They didn't know if he was lying or telling them the truth.

"Why would you tell us this?" shouted the blonde.

"We tricked you. Why?" the brunette added.

"Call… it good parenting from a good… father. Hell, call it chivalry. Just go." Plague slowly raised his head and looked at the sky. He knew he got through to them.

He wanted to move but the drug already paralyzed his arms and legs.

"Before ya go…I need a favor. Can one… of you ladies raise my right arm… up to my face."

After a few seconds he thought they already left till he felt someone grab his hand and struggle to lift his arm. He finally saw his most trusty tool. His pipboy was now in front of his helm.

"Pipboy…101...lockdown."

The girls then realized what they had done when the heard that number. This man was always all over the radio. He saved lives, killed slavers and Super Mutants by the hundreds, fought alongside the Brotherhood of Steel to purify the water. And they had just gift wrapped him for the Enclave.

Plague's weapons then atomized and entered his pipboy. Next most of his clothes did the same, and was replaced by stronger looking power armor.

If he was going to die, he would make them work for their kill. The suit then went into lockdown. The gray metal became darker as his pipboy was covered by metal.

Plague opened his eyes and was greeted by two blurry angels.

He smiled when one bent down to him and said something. The drug was finally taking its toll. He couldn't hear the angels. He just assumed one of them said thank you. His smile grew wider when she kissed his visor and ran. The second angel kissed the visor next and then ran as well.

Plague watched them run to the structure in the distance.

The Enclave transport landed near the man. As soon as it landed, soldiers spilled out and surrounded the vault dweller. The last to exit was the commander. He wore Enclave power armor with his helmet under his arm. The man's bald head was exposed to the sun.

Once he reached the sedated man in the circle of armored soldiers he rubbed his temples. 101 locked his suit while he was on his knees with his right arm in front of his face.

The suit looked old and seemed to have been upgraded. That didn't matter. 101 would be out for days.

When he noticed a brahmin chewing on a weed in the distance, he realized the girls were nowhere to be found.

'Ah well.' he thought. 'Saves me two rounds.'

"He's in lockdown. We don't have time to crack him open. Prep the mini nukes!" he ordered.

Less than a minute later 101 had a collection of mini nukes strapped to him.

"Alright let's get out of…" the commander was interrupted by a confused soldier strapping the nukes.

"Sir. I think he's awake."

Plague fought against the sedative as he watched them add the mini nukes. He had been speaking quietly into the mike in his helmet since the angels left him.

"As… I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…"

Who Plague assumed was a commander leaned in to try and look through the visor.

"…I fear… no evil…" Plague heard clicking in his helmet.

"He's praying." shouted the commander with amusement in his voice.

"…for You are with… me…"

"Why bother, 101?" the commander asked. "God can't save you. Funny though; none of the reports ever said you were the religious type."

"…Your rod… and Your staff, they… comfort me…" more clicks went off in other parts of his suit.

"I guess knowing you are going to die will do that." the commander was now standing to Plague's left watching him look forward.

"Forgive me… father… for I have sinned…" one big click went off in the back of his helmet.

The commander almost dropped his helmet in surprise when Plague turned his head and looked right at him, as his visor opened to reveal a scarred, and tired face. "What the h…"

"…For there is a reason… I'm called Plague. And I come bearing gifts."

The two women were just outside of Megaton when a large explosion went off far behind them. They both looked back as the ground shook under them.

"Oh god." mumbled the blonde. "He was right…" she looked at her friend with tears going down her face. "We… we killed him. He saved us… and we killed him."

The blonde was now sobbing as her friend hugged her. Slowly they both started walking to Megaton.

The wasteland has just lost a hero.


	2. Chapter 2 Rage, Death, Madness

Chapter 2 is up and I hope you all have an umbrella because this is going to be a bloodbath.

**The** **Wildcard**

**Chapter** **2**

'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.' Plague recited in his thoughts.

He was within a void. Surrounded by darkness, silence, stillness, emptiness. Since his suit self-destructed he had been in the darkness for what felt like years.

'I will give unto him, that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.'

Not being so religious, Plague recited the only revelation he knew. 21:6. His mother's favorite. The only thing he knew about his mother other than the fact that her name was Catherine.

No last name, like him and his father. The only ones who knew his name was those from the vault. Since he left the vault he had been simply called 101, and over time, Plague. He felt that his name was the only thing he had left of his days of innocence.

The next time he heard his name was when he found his father in another vault stuck in a machine. When Plague entered the machine he found himself in a computerized world under the control of a madman who took the form of a sweet little girl. When he refused to hand over his father, Plague unleashed hell.

Within seconds Plague forced him to watch as his world was brought down around him. The fake houses burned, the picket fences distorted, the sky turned blood red, the ground shattered. With his mind in that world, Plague had full control. He was compassion and rage, water and fire, light and dark, God and Satan.

Through the girl's eyes the madman was screaming as he looked upon this being of destruction, this simple being that stood within the chaos.

Plague simply walked and laughed historically as he ripped the false world apart with his bare hands. He only showed mercies to those who like his father were trapped. The ones who could survive leaving the world awoke, while those who couldn't were given a swift and painless death to release them from this hell they had been forced to live for years as the puppet master's entertainment.

Not one to leave loose ends, he didn't kill the man. In fact he improved the machine and extended his life as he condemned him to hell within his own nightmare.

Since then he has both built, and carved a road for himself throughout the Capital Wasteland. Saving lives purer than him, created bonds, single handedly gutted the Enclave reducing them to small numbers, purged Paradise Falls.

When his father died he had been reduced to a shell of his former self. With no emotion and no will to live, he threw himself at any challenge wanting his existence to end.

It was with one more bond he formed that he found himself. When he joined the Brotherhood of Steel. He had met them several times throughout his wanderings and met Sarah Lyons. She was the only one from outside the Vault that he told his name.

Plague fell truly in love for the first time and she loved him back.

When they battled against the remaining Enclave, Sarah threw herself in the machine not wanting to watch Plague die from the radiation.

Plague was in shock when he realized Sarah was no longer beside him and turned to see her entering the code.

He ran up the stairs and dove for the door only to have some of the fingers of his right hand crushed under the door. He then screamed. Not in pain, but fear for his love's safety. With his free hand he removed his helmet and pounded the almost unbreakable glass with it. The visor on the helm shattered under the punishment, but that didn't stop him from hitting the glass. With tears running down his face he watched as Sarah walked back to him with only the glass to separate them. She kneeled down to him and removed her suit's helmet and smiled at him. With her health leaving her she placed her hand on the glass as tears ran down her cheeks.

Plague dropped his helmet and gingerly brought his hand up to hers as he rested his forehead on the cool glass. He watched as her strength left her making her sit with her side against the glass door, never taking her hand away. Her face was pale as her hand started to slide down. With the last of her strength she lightly kissed the glass and then knowing Plague couldn't hear her mouthed the words 'I love you Adam' before she finally slid down the glass and went to sleep on the metal floor with a smile on her face knowing she had both saved lives and saved her lover from his fate.

Sobbing uncontrollably Adam rammed his head into the glass. He didn't feel the warm liquid running down his face. All he felt was the hole appearing in his chest.

A few minutes later the rest of the Brotherhood troops entered to room and looked at the image of a barely breathing man with his fingers crushed under a glass door with blood from multiple sources of his forehead smeared on the glass. In his free hand was a piece of glass from his helmet that he was holding to his neck.

A few of the Brotherhood members ran up the stairs and emptied his hand when they realized what he was about to do. The whole time Plague was screaming at them to leave him and let him die next to his love, Sarah Lyons.

He thrashed violently against them as they tried to hold him still as he twisted his already shattered fingers while they remained trapped under the door.

Once the Brotherhood scribes opened the door Plague dragged himself to Sarah and held her cold body in his arms. New tears appeared as he whimpered over her. Fighting the wounds he had received, he picked her up with her armor and slowly lifted himself to his feet. The surrounding knights cleared the way as the sight shuffled past them. He shoved away all who tried to help him as he slowly went through the halls. A knight opened the door to the outside for Plague. Sunlight washed over them as Plague walked to the center of the structures courtyard.

The fighting had stopped. Knights secured the area. The Enclave who surrendered were stripped of their power armor and lined up in rows next to the building. The Brotherhood robot stood in the distance on standby as scribes worked on it.

Once in the center of the courtyard Plague fell to his knees and looked at Sarah's smile. Between sobs he kissed her on the forehead as the quiet courtyard was filled with his sorrow.

Brotherhood Knights and scribes walked up to him and kneeled around him with their helmets removed. It was quiet until one Knight put a hand on his shoulder and said it wasn't his fault.

It was at that exact moment that Plague went silent. The silence made everyone around him feel uneasy as Plague slowly lowered Sarah to the ground.

"Yes…" mumbled Plague as he got to his feet."…It's not my fault…" as Plague started to slowly walk away from the group.

With the knights glad to hear those words they failed to realize where Plague was walking. They also didn't notice Sarah no longer had her laser pistol on her belt.

Plague stood in front of an Enclave prisoner at the end of a row. His hands were tied behind his back while he sat on the ground. The prisoner looked up at the man and froze when he saw those empty sad eyes.

"W…what do you want?" he stuttered when he saw the weapon in his hand.

"You killed her…" Plague's voice was almost a whisper.

The colors on the prisoner's face left him as he looked in the direction this man came from. He saw nothing but a few Brotherhood Knights paying respects to a fallen Knight before them.

"No. No I didn't!" he said as he panicked. He had killed a few Brotherhood during the fight but he knew he didn't kill any in the courtyard. "I…I didn't kill her!"

By this time the rest of the prisoners both men and women looked at the man before them.

"Your Enclave…" Plague stated flatly. "If it wasn't for this battle we would have had enough time to find a way to safely activate Project Purity without the risks." He then checked his love's weapon making sure the safety was off. He was never good with energy weapons. In his chillingly calm voice he continued. "…If it wasn't for the Enclave, Sarah would have not lost so many brothers. If it wasn't for the Enclave, my father wouldn't have had to hide us in Vault 101. If it wasn't for the Enclave, my father would still be here with me." With that he lifted the weapon and aimed at the panicking soldier. "If it wasn't for the Enclave… SARAH WOULD STILL BE WITH ME!"

With Plague's raised voice the Knights around him looked at him. When he pulled the trigger the man had a hole fried into his forehead as he fell to the ground. As if on cue the rest of the unarmed and unarmored prisoners screamed as Plague started firing wildly into the rows. His eyes were filled with rage as his face showed his teeth.

With the prisoners tied they had trouble running, crawling. He aimed for those ones. He would shoot the ones begging last.

Before he could kill a sixth prisoner Plague was tackled to the ground. Knights held his arms as they pried the weapon from his hand.

"I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" he shouted over the chaos "I WILL PURGE YOUR ENCLAVE FILTH FROM THE WASTELAND! I WILL NOT STOP 'TIL ALL OF YOU ARE DEAD AND ROTTING!" Plague then managed to throw three knights of him only for four more to help hold him down. "I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU. I WILL COME FOR YOU EVEN IF YOU BEG. MY ARMOR WILL BE RED WITH YOUR BLOOD. I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT IT's LIKE TO LOSE EVERYTHING!"

The next few months Plague lived with the Brotherhood. The Knights wanted to repay him, but the only things Plague wanted was either to have his love returned to him, or to end his own existence. Not wanting Plague to kill himself, the knights restrained him in the safety of the Brotherhood base.

Plague was silent most of that time. The only sounds he would make were for his visitors to leave him alone are he would start having another episode. They had to hook him up to an IV since he would either use the silverware in a suicide attempt or he would simply not eat.

The first few days were the worst. Scribes had to find a way to put his Pipboy in lockdown so that he wouldn't use the weapons he had stored to kill himself. Whenever one of his weapons was knocked out of his hands the weapon would atomize and again be stored in the Pipboy.

Once they succeeded the suicide attempts were replaced by more outbursts directed at those around him. They also knew Plague was known to eat human flesh long before he met the Brotherhood. His cannibalism was triggered by having to survive in truly unlivable circumstances. Since then he was starting to clean himself up. He stopped multiple times from looking at the corpses of the raiders and other enemies he killed but with Sarah's death he started to revert to his old tendencies. After a gruesome attempt to chew through his wrists, the knights put a mask on him.

As time went by Plague slowly regained his sanity.

Sadly Plague was no longer the same man he used to be. He had lost too much. He couldn't return to the vault, he couldn't argue with his father, he couldn't hold his love in his arms. He had nothing but his Pipboy and his name.

Once the Knights thought he was no longer a danger to himself they unlocked his Pipboy and let him leave.

He was not seen in the Capital Wasteland for a few years.

He traveled to the Mojave Wasteland and found a new purpose. He had been shot in the head and left for dead. In response he gutted the landscape, showed no restraint, hunted until he found his target.

Plague with his perfect memory remembered as he used his own fists to reduce the man to pulp in front of an audience of shocked and terrified gamblers and guards. Nothing in the Wastes could prepare them for the punishment he gave to the inspiration for his rage.

With his bloodlust sated he wandered the Mojave. He found new fights, new challenges, new places.

He then met Mr. House. Another man who needed machines to survive. This Mr. House offered him a proposal. Give him the chip and Mr. House would have him set for life within the New Vegas strip.

It was a nice offer till he realized what that chip could do. The machines under Mr. House's control became more powerful. He would force those within and outside the strip under his control.

With the words 'Sarah wouldn't want this' in his mind Plague brought Mr. House and his precious Lucky 38 down. Even with the machines' upgrades they didn't stand a chance. The tower fell.

It was not long until Plague found his next target. He discovered Caesar's Legion's base. Plague spent the day watching them from a cliff. He saw the women kept as slaves and raped, he saw men be disemboweled while they were still alive and put on crosses, he saw heads on pikes.

Slowly his anger grew. It was when he saw a teenage girl working that he gasped. She had blond hair and blue eyes. The facial structure was familiar. She looked like she could have been Sarah's daughter if she was alive. It was as if Sarah herself was guiding him.

The next morning Plague ambushed a lookout and took his uniform. He walked amongst the killers and slavers. Eventually he found his way to the teen.

She looked up from the herbs she was grounding and felt as if this man was different from those who enslaved her, but she wanted to avoid the whip.

"How…may I serve you master?" she asked afraid of the answer.

She was lucky none of the slavers noticed the curves of her body. With this man before her she felt as if her luck finally ran out.

The man slowly lifted up his hand and lightly touched her right cheek with his fingertips. The contact made a tear run down her face.

She was unsure of this man's intentions. She was expecting to be thrown to the ground and her clothes ripped off of her form like she had witnessed happen so many times within the camp. But the gentleness of the touch confused her.

He drew back his hand and pulled a pin out of his pocket and started messing with her shackles.

If she thought she was confused then, she sure was confused now. Once the shackles fell to the ground she felt what she hadn't felt in a long time. Hope.

"I need you to hide." the man said as he handed her a knife. "No matter what you hear…Don't come out."

The teen didn't know how to react to what she was hearing. But she obeyed. She took the knife and ran to the supply crates and hid herself in one. The silence that followed the next few seconds disappeared as the screaming came. Guards shouted orders and slaves screamed in panic as gunshots filled the air.

She heard metal rip into flesh, she heard screams of pain from the guards, and she heard the yells from confused slavers. The whole process sounded terrifying. But what scared her most was a sound of hysterical laughter moving around the battlefield.

She screamed when she heard something land on top of the crate she was hiding in.

The next second the lid was thrown off by a slaver, who looked inside. Before she could react a Legion machete went through the man's chest covering her in the warm liquid. The man fell away from the crate leaving the teen exposed with the lid off.

She was starting to panic like everyone outside when the sounds of battle went silent.

The quiet was becoming more and more uncomfortable as the seconds ticked by.

Shaking, she looked out of the crate and couldn't believe what she saw.

The camp was decimated. Limbs littered the ground, guards drowned in their own blood.

The only people she saw that did not get killed were the shaking slaves and the figure in the center of the camp.

It was the man she saw earlier. As she got closer his back was to her.

"I said no matter what." the man said calmly as he turned to her.

She took a step back when she saw blood around his mouth. He no longer had the uniforms helmet on so she was able to see his white short hair. His age was around the mid-twenties. The blue in his eyes were so light that they looked as if they were actually silver but looked extremely hollow. He had a collection of scars on his forehead.

Seeing the image of himself in his mind disgusted him. He devouring human flesh sickened him. His eyes shot open to reveal the darkness.

For the two-hundred and fourth time he realized he was still in the void. He screamed at the top of his lungs only for his voice to be muted. He couldn't even hear himself in the darkness.

While he screamed he noticed one difference in his view. A speck of light appeared in the distance. As the light grew he was laughing

Finally he would be with Sarah. Finally he wouldn't have to feel the ache in his heart. Slowly the light grew, and then consumed him.

The Normandy was quieter the usual. Sure the Cerberus crew worked around the clock but it felt extremely quiet to Taylor Shepard. She missed the old crew. By some miracle one of 'Timmy she liked to call the annoying bustard's dossiers was actually Garrus, one of her friends from the first Normandy. Sure it was fun to watch Joker yell at the ship's AI but that didn't stop her from missing everyone.

She was standing at the holotank planning a course to some worlds to gather resources when Joker talked to her on the com.

"Shepard, The Illusive Man wants to chat. Should I patch him through?" Joker asked.

Taylor let out a large sigh as she moved a strand of her dark hair that must have escaped her ponytail out of her view

"Patch Timmy through." she answered as she walked to the com room.

Once she entered the room the meeting table lowered itself as the chairs moved out of the way on tracks. She stepped in the center of the room as she was scanned by a grid. Soon she was welcomed with the unpleasant sight of the one and only Tim sitting in his seat.

"Shepard, nice of you to join me…" he was cut off by Shepard.

"Cut the crap Timmy. What do you want?" she asked with her hands on her hips.

The Illusive Man let out a sigh as he took in a big breath of his cigar. He then let out a smoke ring before he answered.

"Fine Shepard. I have a problem. To be more specific Omega has a problem…"

"Hmm, when does it not have one?" Shepard retorted.

"…the next day after you recruited Archangel and Mordin Solus, we picked up a strange signal." with that a small screen appeared next to Shepard showing the market district of Omega. "At first it was just the signal. When we hacked into the security feed the camera was blinded by a bright light." as Timmy spoke the feed played. A ball of light appeared startling some of the pedestrians and then exploded and somehow took out the feed. It then switched to a second feed as the light died down and revealed a humanoid figure on the ground. Before Shepard could ask a question Timmy talked. "That's not even the strange part."

As the feed played the crowd started to calm down. They looked at the body and acted as if it was a normal thing maybe thinking the flash was a malfunction in the lighting. A few seconds went by until a krogan walked up to the corpse. Now that Shepard focused she realized it was a human wearing what looked like a jumpsuit. The krogan kneeled down and started to mess with a digital device on the man's right wrist. As the seconds went by the krogan was beginning to be more and more irritated when the thing wouldn't come off.

The scene changed drastically when the man's hand freed itself from the krogans grip and grabbed the krogan by his armor and brought him to the ground as he rolled on top of him. People backed away as the human started punching the krogan's face with his fists. Taylor feared for the man's safety until a puddle of krogan blood started to form under the reptiles head. He didn't stand a chance. The krogan's arms fell to the ground as he died. His face was stuck as if from shock. Even though the alien was dead the man kept pounding away at his skull. Shockingly the krogan's crest caved in.

As the man pummeled the thief's head he started to calm down. Slowly he looked at his hands and then at the krogan under him. He was more shocked at the sight of the crowed of aliens around him than the two other things.

She had seen men get beaten to death by krogan. Hell one of those krogan was a close friend of hers, but to see it the other way around. Her eyes threatened to fly right out of their sockets.

He then said something and the device on his wrist started glowing. Within a second the light consumed him and when the light died down there was an armored figure in the man's place. The dome visor of his helm made him look slightly like a Quarian, he had pieces of armor covering parts of his body as what looked like an old duster jacket appeared on him.

"W…What the hell?" Shepard blurted out.

"He has some advanced tech. somehow he can materialize gear out of thin air." Timmy explained.

Then the man activated some kind of cloaking field and vanished.

"Ever since this man's appearance he has been accepting merc jobs all over Omega. He follows through in the jobs without any civilian casualties. His weapons are old antiques; 10mm pistols, revolvers; the list goes on. Selling those weapons would make him an extremely wealthy man. Where he gets his ammunition I don't know. All I know he makes them himself. But the strangest thing about him is his armor which is not in any record and the fact that he will not take credits as payment."

"What? What is he paid with? How can he make a living without money?" Shepard asked with her eyes finally looking away from the screen.

"That's the thing. He does not accept currency. He works for resources, food, and shelter." Timmy answered. "We have no name, no ID, no DNA, no fingerprints. I want you to find this man."

"Why? To kill him?" Shepard asked.

"No. This man is unpredictable, almost invincible. There are too many unknowns. We have classified him as The Wildcard."

"What do I do when I find him? If he's as strong as you say then it will be hard to get his tech even if we ambush him."

"I want you to recruit him."


	3. Chapter 3 Where am I

**Wow**** I lov****e all the views this is getting. Anyway can you guys help me out? I'm still a little new. When I look at the story traffic what's the difference between visitors and hits?**

**The Wildcard**

**Chapter 3**

"What the hell?" Plague mumbled when he saw the large dead lizard under him. Sure Plague had killed many mutations since he left the vault, but this…thing he just killed was nothing like he had ever seen. He must have been in an area with more radiation than anywhere he had ever been.

'What had it evolved from? A toad? No, it's reptilian, not amphibian.' Plague's mind was working in overdrive. 'No. It has armor… Maybe it evolved from a human…? No. the structure does not support that idea. Maybe a new kind of super mutant?'

As Plague breathed heavily he noticed something. The air was cleaner. Sure in a way it smelled like ass to him but, it was a good change from the smells he had been forced to inhale. Just a little…ok a lot of work the air could be close to a malfunctioning air filter standards you would find in an almost run down vault.

With this on his mind he looked above him. He was no longer in a wasteland. He was surrounded by metal.

'Maybe it is a Vault…' Plague thought before he noticed the creatures around him.

The first thing he noticed was all of them stood on two legs. The colors and shapes of their bodies varied. His mind frantically tried to piece together what he was looking at. They actually had on clothing. To Plague that meant they at least have some kind of intelligence. Though it was hard for him to read most of their faces, Plague felt they feared him. It was when he saw one of the creatures in the crowed that Plague realized his guess was right.

He saw a purple humanlike face. He assumed it was female since she had a familiar woman like shape with smooth skin. If he was not practically hyperventilating, he would probably say the woman looked quite attractive.

Plague then looked at another mutant; this one was almost taller than him. It had what looked like a fringe sticking out of the back of its head while the face had a mouth with an appendage on both sides. They seemed to function like pincers, or something similar. Its skin looked leathery. For a split second Plague wondered if a knife would have a hard time penetrating the hide.

The third kind of creature he examined was skinny, slightly shorter than the last creature, and had a rather large head with big black eyes.

After the seven seconds of silence he was using to determine how much of a threat they were to him, he activated his Pipboy and said a few numbers as fast as he could. Throughout the process of his armor appearing on his person, he never looked away from the crowd.

Once he was geared he activated the stealth function he had taken out of the original Chinese suit and wired into his favorite armor's pieces and vanished.

The creatures looked even more stunned.

The next thing Plague did was run for the closest dark spot he could find which ended up being a downward staircase that took him to a dead end. When he was about to turn around he noticed a counter to his left and hid behind it. It was then he noticed all of the salvaged parts around him. He had hid himself in some kind of kiosk.

Once he was sure he was alone he deactivated his stealth field. Plague rested his head against the surface. His thoughts flew around in his head like a swarm of bees, his heart was pounding, and he felt a bit dizzy. Sure he had seen many things throughout his time in the wastes, but he didn't expect to be thrown in the middle of some mutant tribe.

'I was supposed to be with Sarah!' Plague shouted in his thoughts.

In response his hands clenched into fists as his fully armored arm punched the metal floor next to him.

In his confusion Plague held his head in his hands as his slowly growing headache started to annoy him.

Plague had done many bad things in his life, but he felt he didn't deserve this torment. What was the point of him losing his mind in that darkness only to be once again denied seeing his love?

'I don't deserve this hell.'

His thoughts were interrupted by someone walking around the corner.

"Keelah se'lai…" the helmet wearing man said to him with a slightly altered voice.

Plague's hand was already in his coat ready to grab his ripper. The only thing that stopped him from gutting the man was his slightly humanoid shape and that mask that looked a lot like his helmet.

"Hei silocily…" he stopped talking when Plague reacted to the man raising his three fingered hands as if to calm him down."…Beel grans'a gree human…" the human shaped creature said when he took a step back and started rubbing the back of his mask. "…Ish glaned sil quarian…" he said with a slight chuckle as he pointed to both Plague's helmet and his mask.

Plague had no idea what he said but he was able to piece together what he might have said. It looks as if it thought he was one of his own.

The creatures face was hidden but Plague could see two light blue orbs looking at him with an.

"Kenn'Shra vas Omina." he said as he held out a hand to Plague unaware of what could happen to him if his movements appeared violent.

In response plague slowly took his hand out of his coat and shook the three fingered hand.

With this Kenn not trying to rip Plague's head off he assumed he was like those few super mutants that could talk and behave.

"Plague…I like your choice of headwear…" Plague said weakly in a joking voice.

He was surprised when the creature started laughing as he shook his hand. Somehow it understood him.

"…Can you understand me?" Plague asked and received a reluctant nod from the man.

When their hands separated the creature motioned for him to stay while he started rummaging through a crate. After the sound of something hitting something else in the crate Plague's host almost shouted something that sounded like "Bosh'tet" and returned with what looked like a plastic loop.

"Omni tool…" he said as he showed Plague the loop.

He then pointed to another loop he had around his wrist and then pointed to where his ear could be under his mask.

It didn't take a lot of brainpower to piece together what he was told.

His host put the loop in his hand and the motioned for him to put it on.

After examining it Plague figured it was too small to be a bomb. The next thing he did was slide it onto his left wrist opposite to his Pipboy.

Plague finally stood up as he looked at the strange loop.

"Sle veast." Kenn said as he reached for Plague's loop.

When he moved a hand over the loop Plague jumped as his arm was covered in an orange hologram. His jump earned him another chuckle from Kenn as he started pushing buttons.

"Shimp lase gro…strange for a human to show up on Omega without even getting an Omni tool first." Plague's eyes widened as some voice translated what was said. "I'm guessing you have never been here before."

"Um…I understand you now Kenn…" Plague said as Kenn gave him a pat on the back.

"Good. I didn't want to have to play…what do you humans call it? Charades?" Kenn asked.

"Yaeh… Now Kenn… now that I understand you… mind if I ask you something?" Plague asked as he looked at the Omni tool trying to find out how to turn it off.

"By all means. Though mind if I ask why you look like a quarian?"

"A what?" Plague asked back.

"…I'm guessing you aren't from around here…" Kenn said. "…Well I'm honored to be the first quarian you have ever met then." He said as he rubbed the back of his mask again. "…When I found you I thought I ran into someone from the Flotilla. Your helmet is oddly shaped…if you don't mind me being blunt."

Hearing this Plague started to turn off the magnetic locks and then lifted his helmet off his head.

"…Is that better? Now we can talk face to…" Plague stopped when he realized Kenn took a step back.

"I…I'm sorry. It's just strange seeing someone take off they're helmet if it looks so much like a quarian mask. Makes me think you are going to keel over…"

'Fuck radiation…' Plague was about to say until he realized his Pipboy showed it was safe.

"Why do you say that?" he asked as he calmed down quickly from his two second panic.

"We quarians have a weak immune system." Kenn explained. "That's what you get from a few generations of being in a sterile environment. We practically wear our enviro-suits our whole life." Plague listened to the quarian with bewilderment on his face. How could they survive the wasteland? "One rip or puncture and we can get extremely sick, or die."

"W…where do you find food?" Plague asked. If there was an uncontaminated food source around here, Plague wanted to know where it was.

"I have a place here I found that sells me nutrient paste. Guy's an extremely racist bosh'tet, but at least he's an honest merchant. If you are looking for something to eat I wouldn't recommend it. Dextro-amino and levo-amino acids and all."

"Acids?" Plague asked confused.

With this Kenn did the closest thing to a face palm and shook his head.

"How have you survived this long?…I'm a quarian. I have dextro-amino acids. That means it's safe for me to eat dextro-amino food. You…" Kenn points at Plague to further emphasis the word. "…are a human. You have levo-amino acids. If we ate each other's food we both would have an extreme allergic reaction. You could die if you don't get medical attention fast. Me however I'm…I think you humans say screwed."

'Great. Mutants and food that can kill me.' Plague thought to himself.

"If you see an asari, or salarian eating something though it's alright. They are levo-amino like you." Kenn explained and then let out a sigh as Plague gave him another look. "Look over there. But don't make it obvious." Kenn nodded to the stairs. Walking through the corridor were a few more creatures. Another large headed one and one of those female human looking ones with tentacles sticking out of the back of her head, but this time she was blue. "The one that looks closest to a human with blue skin. She's an asari. They are all mono-gendered. Both male and female. But they are shaped a lot like human females. Well… and quarian females minus the leg and hand structure." Kenn explained with a little shyness in his slightly altered voice. "Don't worry if one hits on you. They are able to mate with anyone. No matter what gender you are if they want they could get pregnant and have an asari daughter. It's actually part of their culture."

Plague's eyes couldn't have gotten any wider. Sure now that he was not panicking, he kind of found them attractive, but that whole mate with anyone deal just confused the hell out of him.

The topic was just as confusing as why the birds and the bees talk which involves doing the deed, was fucking called the birds and the bees. The name of the talk alone would drive anyone insane with confused madness.

'They have to be getting a DNA samples or something and using that to give birth like cloning.' Plague thought to himself with the only answer he could think of while at the same time trying to push a rather creepy as hell Vault incident back to the back of his head.

"And don't forget they can live for a thousand years or so."

Just when he thought his eyes couldn't get any wider.

The only thing Plague could think of living that long was a super mutant or a ghoul, but they get to about a thousand years. But it was hard picturing the beauty walking by the stairs would be alive for that long.

"Ok enough about them. The big headed one with those big eyes. He's a salarian. They have a fast metabolism. They think fast, move fast. They also talk fast. Just a heads up if you want to have a conversation with one. They sleep for about an hour a day. There are downsides to this. Lifespan wise, they live for about forty years or so."

The salarian Plague was looking at was a shade of green. The horns on his head didn't look that dangerous but Plague knew not to underestimate things. What they lack in strength, they could easily make up for it with the combination of their speed and a nice gun in their hand.

"Ok those two are two of the three main Citadel races. The third are Turians. They have dextro-amino acids like me. I…dam I can't see one from here." Kenn said as he leaned as far over the counter as he could without falling. "Um…imagine six feet tall, metallic exoskeleton. It's stronger than human skin, but it isn't a natural armor. They are avian-like with this crest on the back of their heads with…"

"Mandibles? I saw one earlier. Tough looking." Plague interrupted.

"That's them." Kenn said as he started managing his kiosk. "Well I think I covered the important stuff… Oh, if you see any large lizards with kind of a hump. Stay out of the way. They are strong and can regenerate. They also live to fight so watch yourself."

"I think I'll be ok." Plague reassured with what happened earlier in his head. He would still have the blood on his hands if it wasn't for the fact that whenever he atomized or re atomized the gear they would be cleaned. "Well anyway, thanks Kenn'Shra. You might have saved my life a few times." Plague said as he put a hand in his coat to hide him re atomizing something. "Here. For the omnitool." Plague put one of the 9mms he carried for parts into the quarian's unsuspecting hand along with some ammo.

Before Kenn could say anything Plague walked off not knowing that a functional antique gun like that along with ammo could get Kenn out of his debt, and off Omega, and still have enough to buy a small ship as Pilgrimage gift.

Plague put his helmet back on as he walked. In the wasteland the best thing you could give someone was one of five things. One: Food. And since Plague didn't have any on his person that idea was gone. And even if he had any, Kenn wouldn't be able to eat it. Two: Water. That option has the same problems as the first one. Three: Shelter. Being in what looks like a Vault and having your own little spot at the bottom of those stairs made a nice shelter and could easily be defended. Four: someone to share your bed with for a little fun. That was probably the worst option. His weak immune system would take him out. Even with protection. Maybe if Plague could find him a nice quarian girl… Five: would be a weapon and ammo for obvious reasons. Never know when you'll wake up with a molerat trying to sneak into your house and try to eat some mystery meat, AKA Kenn in a nice air sealed bag to keep him tasty-fresh.

"I really hate my condition." Plague reminded himself as his cannibalistic side showed itself in mid thought.

When the sound of his stomach growling got his attention he started looking around. He still didn't feel comfortable around those unfamiliar mutants, but that didn't stop him from walking among them as long as they played nice. Strangely they looked at him more then he looked at them. Maybe they also kept confusing him for a quarian like Kenn did.

Plague walked until the smell of roasting meat got his attention. He walked up to what looked like a food cart out of the way of the crowd traffic with seats set up along the side.

He saw a turian working at the grill flipping what looked like a colorful blue stake. The turian had a silverfish shade what looked like blue paint on his face in a wavy pattern.

"How could I help you quari…human?" he asked in a strange voice making Plague shiver a little down his spine.

"You got levo-amino food?" Plague asked as he sat down.

"Yes human. We have varren steak, and pod crab (those gray crab things that live on Virmire) legs. That's about it. Drinks-wise we got water."

Plague listened as he took off his helmet and had no idea what any of those things were.

'How many new mutants are in this region?'

"I…guess I'll take the crab." Plague ordered.

The turian opened what Plague assumed was a fridge and pulled out four gray crab like legs with sharp points on the tips. Each leg was almost as long as the turian's arm. He then threw them on the grill making the legs make a shrill sound.

"Ever had pod crab before?" plague shook his head. "Me neither. Downside of not being a levo-amino life form. Smells delicious. The weird thing is they are hard to kill and…actually they are easy to kill. It's just finding a way to kill them without them blowing up and leaving nothing left. You have to tranquilize them and kill them quickly with a knife. Sounds creepy though when you do It." the cook the pulled out something that looked like a hedge trimmer and started cutting the legs in half while they were on the grill. "A human I know says they sound like when you drop a live lobster in a boiling pot of water. Do you humans really do that? It sounds disturbing. I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or pulling my leg."

"I personally haven't although I have eaten mirelurk. They try to get in your boat or grab you on dry land with their claws. They're bigger than a human. Practically made of one giant shell with a big eyeball as big as a basketball."

The cook was in awe as he listened to his customer. He never knew Earth had such creatures.

"They work like ants. But by themselves they are not that bright. Just drop a grenade in the water and they try to eat it." Plague and the cook both started laughing as if it was the best joke they ever heard.

"That's interesting human." mumbled a deep voice that came from a krogan in red armor who sat next to Plague.

The cook went silent as he flipped the large blue steak that had been cooking the whole time Plague was there.

"Congratulations. You are the first krogan I have started a conversation with." Plague said as he twirled a fork in his hand.

Plague looked over to the lizard with a small smirk. The krogan had dark scales while the crest was a dark brown color.

"How lucky you are to have a member of the Blood Pack welcome you then… Hey turian, flip the damn steak." he snapped at the cook who obeyed with his mandibles twitching quickly. The krogan let out an annoyed growl and then continued. "So human, where do you hail from? I can smell dried blood on you over the dam cuttlebone's cooking. FLIP!" He shouted to the cook. "Can't trust damn turians.'"

Plague didn't care that much about the whole argument but the word cuttlebone made the turian cook cringe so he assumed it was the equivalent of calling a ghoul a zombie.

"No one likes a racist. Let him have a clear mind while he cooks our food." Plague announced in a calm voice.

This seemed to get a chuckle out of the krogan.

"Well…" starts the krogan as he gets out of his seat and starts walking around to where the cook is."…if he's cooking 'our' food he should at least know what it tastes like so he knows how to cook It." he then grabs the turian's fringe and pulls it back. The effect is similar to someone grabbing a handful of hair on a human.

The cook's head goes back as he shouts out in pain. With the krogan's free hand he grabs a piece of Plague's crab off the grill and starts forcing it into the cook's mouth.

Meanwhile the krogan is laughing but stops when a fork flies into his eye, replacing the laughing with roars of pain. He let go of the turian to cover his eye as he looks for who threw it.

What he saw was not the human he had been sitting next to. What he saw was a savage glare looking at him while the human licked his lips before giving the krogan a toothy smile.

"You don't mess with a man's food. Now step away from the cook so I can reorder, although it's been a while since I've had reptile."

The krogan roared as he went around the counter and charged at Plague. In his rage he forgot he was armed. Before he could get to him Plague had already jumped on top of his chair, and then landed on top of the krogan.

The Blood Pack krogan was confused for a second when Plague skipped off the back of his head and landed behind him.

If he had been a little calmer he would have noticed the two lights flash as he turned.

Once he saw the human he thought his eye was playing tricks on him. In the human's hands were two knife-like weapons. The odd thing about them was one had chainsaw teeth around it while the other was connected by some hose going from the hilt to a pack that appeared on his back.

The krogan took a step back when one of the knives bellowed fire while the other revved up making the engine roar.

Once the krogan finally made sense of the situation it was too late.

Plague closed the small gap, stabbed the fire weapon into his chest with enough force to penetrate the armor while, ripped it out as he howled in pain, kicked him into the counter making his head slam into the grill. As he tried to pull himself away from the fire he found himself being held down by a strong human hand.

He howled in pain as his face burned.

After a few seconds of burning, Plague pulled the krogan's head off the grill as some parts of his hide still sizzled.

"No one likes a racist." Plague whispered next to the krogan's head. "And no one like waiting for their food to cook. I'm done waiting. Don't you agree?"

If the krogan was going to respond he didn't get a chance to. The ripper dug into his neck making both the sound of the engine and the krogan's gargling echo for a bit.

By the time the krogan stopped thrashing around Plague had sawed halfway through the neck.

He pulled out the ripper and sawed off part of the dead Blood Pack member's burnt face and let him fall. Finally he killed the engine as both his weapons atomized.

Plague walked around the counter and saw the turian having an allergic reaction to the crab meat as Plague bit into reptilian meat he had never tried before.

As he ate he looked around behind the counter. The cook works with levo food all day so he has to have something in case something happens.

Finally he found what looked like a first aid kit and took it to the turian, opening the case and showing it to the cook who was still able to move an arm. His hand grabbed a needle and he stabbed it into his arm.

Plague then put the case on the ground next to him and patted him on the shoulder before he stood up and walked off after picking up his helmet.

The crowd that formed around the scene moved out of the way as he walked casually past them.

Once he was far enough away he put his helmet back on. He walked for a while and froze when he saw the void before him. After a few seconds Plague walked closer and realized he was not seeing the same void.

The void he was looking at was space through a viewport.

**I like quarians. I don't know why. Maybe it's the way they can always make something work. Anyway I thought I'd reward Kenn for his help in the chapter even though I had to make up his full name, since he never says it. I really couldn't think of any other way to get Plague to fully notice his surroundings without killing everyone.**

**Anyway free internet cake for the first person to review and say what the fire weapon was. Anyway Plague's madness will continue next time. Have a good one guys.**


	4. Chapter 4 Meet the Queen

First place is byebye360 while Bloodyredshade comes in second. Good job you two. Props.

Before we begin I will say there is some language. :O

The Wildcard

Chapter 4

Plague backed away from the window. His mind was in a million different places. He was always a quick thinker, open minded, unshakable. But what he was looking at was too much for him.

The vault dweller had seen many things in his life. But he did not know how to process the fact that he was so far away from the wasteland, his planet, hell, maybe his solar system.

He needed time to think.

Without Plague having to order it, his Pipboy pumped aspirin into his bloodstream when it became aware of the headache making itself known to its owner.

As Plague started undoing the magnetic locks on his helmet, he sat in a nearby seat that faced the window. He filled his lungs with the not needed to be filtered air as he held his helmet in his lap.

The only other person near him was an asari sitting at the other end of the row of four seats. She had been reading something on her Omni tool until she noticed Plague sit. Every once in a while she would take a quick glance. She was wearing a pink colored dress that went well with her slightly darker blue shade skin.

"E…excuse me. But are you a mercenary?" she asked him out of curiosity at the end of the two minute long silence. "I don't mean to be rude but your clothing looks quite different from what I occasionally see other humans wearing."

For some reason the question made Plague chuckle a little.

"Among other things. I guess. I'm I really that out of place?" he asked without looking away from the window. "If you want my opinion… unusual is interesting. Where's the fun in everyone looking the same?"

This time it was the asari's turn to laugh.

"That's an interesting way to see things. Not a lot of humans I've met are as opened minded as you are. Although most humans I run into have a habit of thinking all asari are on their way to Afterlife."

"Afterlife?" Plague asked finally looking away from the glass. Understandable since the word was extremely ironic in his situation.

"It's a strip bar run by Aria T'Loak. Well that proves you are new here." the asari explained.

"How does that prove I'm new here? If I saw you on Earth and asked if you knew where the nearest strip club was, I wouldn't put two and two together."

"The difference is Aria is in charge of Omega. I'm a little surprised she hasn't introduced herself yet. She likes to meet all the interesting arrivals. You know…explain the rules of her domain. If something interesting is happening on Omega, she'll know about it." she said as she moved over a few more seats to get closer. "If you want to avoid some complications in the future you might want to introduce yourself."

Plague couldn't help but notice how close she was leaning to him in the next seat. For some reason he had an effect on the opposite gender. Well…in this case the mono gender. As for why… hell if he knew. (Lady-killer perk. Dam I'm breaking the fourth wall. MUWAHahahah. Take that readers.)

He also couldn't help but notice the slight cleavage the alien was showing.

"What kind of complications?" Plague asked in a slightly manlier voice.

"Many kinds…" she answered as she finally closed the distance and looped her arm through his on the armrest."…You never know what kind of company you could run into." Her voice started to sound more seductive as her eyes seemed to look at him like a predator.

"Well…" Plague leaned in. "…I don't mind the company I have now." Plague whispered close to the asari's ear. "This must be the good kind of company…unless you are the more naughty kind?"

The asari put on a coy smile as she looked into his eyes.

"Maybe I'm a little of both." she answered as her free left hand rested on Plague's leg. "As for how…naughty…" her hand started to slide a little higher."…that could be explored."

"That could be an interesting journey. Maybe if I had a beautiful guide?"

"I think I have enough free time. My I ask your name my…esteemed companion?"

"My name's Plague." Plague answered.

With this the asari blinked a few times.

"Sounds more like a title to me. There isn't a reason for such a name is there?" she asked sliding her hand closer to its destination.

"I'm healthy if that's what you mean." Plague practically blurted out when he realized how negative the word can reflect upon his love life. "Although I have been called many things. You can call me 101 if you want. Makes no difference to me, to tell you the truth."

"Oh but I like Plague. It actually gives you a mysterious background. But this 101. Now that raises more questions. Why would you be called a number?"

"I was raised in a vault." Plague answered after a chuckle. "The planet I am from went through a nuclear war a few hundred years back. Before the bombs fell the military built a few hundred of these "Vaults" to protect the citizens and those they saw at the time as important. My home vault was Vault 101. The surface is mostly radioactive."

"Wow. That's quite…sad." the asari remarked. "I'm guessing you left the vault for a reason?"

Plagues eyes looked a little saddened.

"Some circumstances are hard to avoid… Now, enough about me. My I ask for your name?" Plague asked.

"My name is… Morinth." she answered as her hand finally rested upon its targeted destination, only separated by the fabric of Plague's pants he wore in the current armor combination. "For obvious reasons I'm guessing we can't go to your place. Let's go to mine."

Plague and Morinth both got out of their seats without separating.

"Lead the way." Plague said with his right hand holding his helmet.

As they walked Morinth noticed a crowd and a medical transport far away.

"What a strange day it is. First some human manages to pummel a krogan to death, and now this." she stated as she waved a hand towards the far off crowd.

Plague didn't comment as they walked.

He was about to ask more about the asari people, but stopped as he noticed some kind of four eyed alien walk up to them. His body was humanoid shaped. The only difference was the four black eyes that seemed to be giving Plague an extremely irritated glare, and the structure of the head.

"Can I help you with something?" Plague asked when the alien blocked his path.

Morinth gave Plague a playful smirk.

"Human, head to Afterlife. Aria T'Loak wants to speak with you." the alien ordered.

"It was only a matter of time I guess. I told you she would introduce herself." Morinth commented.

Plague let out a long sigh as he looked at the four eyed cock-blocker.

"I guess it can't be helped." Plague then whispered in the asari's ear. "Any chance we can continue this later?"

Morinth pushed some buttons on her omnitool and Plague's omnitool pinged.

"Let's do a rain check." she said before she gave him a passionate kiss.

She then walked off into the crowed as Plague let out another sigh. He then looked at the alien with a look of disappointment.

"You couldn't have waited an hour or so?" Plague asked sarcastically.

The four eyed annoyance just shook his head as he motioned for Plague to follow.

It didn't take long for them to get to Afterlife. The place was lit up like New Vegas in Plague's opinion. That also added to the growing list of things he didn't like. It reminded him of the man he ripped apart in his own casino, only to within the next twenty-four hours bring down a tower that housed someone equally annoying to him.

Plague was never a fan of crowds, lights, sounds. He preferred the quiet wasteland, the sound of the wind carrying itself across the land, annoyances instantly silenced by one well-placed gunshot or something blunt in his hand crushing the annoyance's skull, the nice and calming songs playing on his Pipboy. It was better when he wouldn't have to listen to that annoying Three Dog.

The music that flooded his ears as the doors opened almost made him want to claw out his eardrums and then see if it was considered cannibalism to eat your 'own' flesh.

The dam place had another thing that annoyed him.

"God damnit! My eyes!" Plague almost shouted as the laser lights washed over him.

The now practically blinded human rubbed his eyes. He wanted to ram his helmet on his head and set the visor to its darkest setting and curl up in a corner while at the same time, find a way to disable the helmet's speakers to mute the world.

A hand touched his shoulder only for him to pull away. Forcing his eyes open he followed the bored alien.

As they walked Plague unsurprisingly risked a few glances at the asari dancers to again become blinded by the light.

With a few profanities he mumbled two words. "Worth it…"

The alien lead Plague to a booth up some stairs. Once they reached the top Plague struggled to keep his eyes open. He made out a blue figure sitting on what Plague assumed was a couch, as four-eyes behind him gave him a shove.

"Damn it four-eyes. Aren't you blinded?" Plague shouted over his shoulder. He then looked back to the figure in front of him and gave a slight bow. "I'm assuming you are Aria T'Loak?"

He was answered by a slightly amused chuckle.

"I'm guessing you are more nocturnal?" a female voice asked as Plague saw a glint of orange.

Almost instantly the lights dimmed allowing Plague's eyes to adjust almost instantly.

"But yes, you assumed correctly." the asari answered as Plague realized that the glass behind her went to a darker tint. "You haven't been on Omega long, yet you have caused quite a stir amongst some of the gangs." she started as another alien with for eyes walked in front of him and did what Plague guessed was scanning him.

At first everything looked fine. There was a 3D model of a human body. Then all of a sudden it started scrambling and flashing red.

Automatically every alien in the booth except Aria aimed guns at him.

"I don't know where you are hiding your weapons human, but hand them over. NOW." the scanning four-eyes ordered.

With a chuckle Plague looked around the booth. After examining every corner in a matter of seconds (six extra seconds 'examining' the dancers between the couch and the window) he looked back at the alien.

"First off: Even if I was going to, there is not enough room in here for my gear. Second: Just try it you four-eyed freak. Third: Can you please tell me what your damn species is called so I can come up with better insults then saying four-eyes every three seconds? And fourth: Why don't you go fuck a krogan. That is unless you prefer not to be the one fucking? What you and your krogan lover do behind closed doors is none of my business. I don't judge."

By the end of Plague's rant the alien was speechless. The look on his face showed disgust, hatred, shame, humiliation, and pretty much every negative emotion Plague could think of. Even a few he didn't recognize.

After a long silence (besides the dam techno) the alien finally pulled himself together and looked like he was about to say something but was interrupted by a sudden burst of laughter behind him.

"By…the Goddess…" Aria barely managed to say between the laughing. "…I…wow…"

The asari seemed to be acting extremely out of character. Plague guessed as he took a few more glances at the shocked aliens around him. Even the dancers just froze.

After almost half a minute the asari finally got back to her relaxed sitting position. But even then there seemed to be a slightly amused smirk on her blue face.

"Please. Have a seat." she offered waving a hand towards the part of the couch closest to her guest.

Not one to refuse a woman's invitation, Plague took a seat on the left side of the couch and placed his helmet next to him.

"You know my name. But I am yet to hear yours?" she asked in a questioning tone.

"Just call me Plague madam." Plague said as he tilted a nonexistent hat on his head.

"Plague? Surely that's not your real name? After all who besides a krogan would name their offspring a disease that spreads rapidly through a population?"

With that response Plague tilted his head as he gave Aria a questioning look that met hers.

"Plague is not my real name. I'm sorry T'Loak. But my name is one of the few things I have left. Please just call me Plague or 101 if that's more suitable to you?" he explained.

"Well what you call yourself is none of my concern, but alright Mr. 101. I have some questions for you. First off." Aria's expression was replaced by a look of annoyance. "How the fuck did you get in my station without anyone noticing?"

"I…" Plague scratched his head in deep thought. "I…don't even know the answer myself. Last I remember was going out in a blaze of glory, taking my enemies with me. Next thing I know, a lizard is standing over me. The rest I think you know."

Aria's expression became more calm as she pulled out what Plague found out was called a data pad.

"You single handedly killed two krogan on your own. One unarmed, and the other a member of the Blood Pack in close quarters combat with knives." she read. "That is quite intriguing. As I said before, you have caused quite a stir amongst the gangs of Omega. The Eclipse and Blue Suns want to hire you while the Blood Pack is out for blood."

"I'm guessing that's a bad thing? Sorry if I am not as shocked as I should be. I don't know those first two gangs, but if the rest of the Blood Pack is the same as the krogan there is nothing to worry about." Plague informed in a surprisingly calm voice,

Aria just raised an eyebrow as she looked back at him.

"I don't know if you are brave or foolish. I'm not sure you fully grasp the situation." Aria said.

"Those who are brave are foolish. Without fear how can you meet the challenge? Without fear where is the thrill? Without fear you cannot push yourself beyond your limits. There is no such thing as bravery. Everyone fears something."

"You say that as if you learned it the hard way." Aria added. "I suppose only time will tell. So Mr. 101, what do you fear?"

After a pause Plague looked at her with a look that showed an intense expression. "Bobbleheads."


	5. Chapter 5 First day on the job

**Sorry it took a while guys. I had to type this on a laptop. Was on vacation and uploaded the chapter as soon as I got back.**

**Hope you like the chapter. Enjoy,**

**The Wildcard**

**Chapter 5**

"Bobbleheads?" Aria asked in confusion. "What the hell's a bobblehead?"

After the question was asked, the booth was taken over by a long silence until the only human guard in the booth started laughing.

Almost instantly all aliens in the room gave him a questioning look.

"…I'm guessing this is a human thing?" Aria finally asked when the laughing died down.

"I… I'm sorry boss." the human said once he found out he was drawing attention to himself. "A… bobblehead is a knick-knack. Imagine a doll like thing with a big head that shakes."

"I… am going to pretend I didn't hear that. Anyway, I wanted to offer you a deal. If you are interested?" Aria offered. When Plague leaned forward in his seat with a look of interest on his face, she continued. "I am put in a rare situation. When I saw your face for the first time on camera, I took a scan. And what I received was a corrupted data file. Even now I am having trouble taking a scan of you." She then waved a hand to one of her guards who seemed to be irritated about something on his omnitool. "My men use the most advanced tech I can get my hands on."

"That's odd. I have a few enhancements but I don't know why that is happening. Does this have anything to do with your offer?"

With that a smile reappeared on her face.

"It has everything to do with it. If I can't then everyone else is having the same problem. In a way, you don't exist. I have a few… problems. If you could help me with said problems I can make it worth your while. I have seen what you can do and I don't think you will have a problem with them."

"This all depends on who these "problems" are. How do I know they aren't some civilians you want to keep quiet?" Plague asked as he sat back in his seat.

"Believe me when I say they deserve what's coming to them." Aria reassured with her expression unchanged. "The men I am speaking of used to work for me. A week ago they took everything in one of my weapon storehouses and now walk around Omega saying they are still under my employ." Aria's face changed to a look of disgust and irritation. "They hack into one of MY data stores and dare to leave me a message saying they will cut off the air supply to the lower levels in the next three days if I don't start paying them not to. If my contacts hear about this I will be a laughing stock." For the first time since her guest arrived, the asari stood up and looked directly at him.

This also let Plague see more of her curves but he knew when to shut up. He also knew when he was talking to someone who deserved respect.

"No one…FUCKS with Aria!" Plague guessed right. "I have direct control over everything in Omega. They hacked in to my systems because I let them out of curiosity. They also can't tamper with the air systems on my station since someone unleashed a "plague" a few days ago. Ironic in a way if you ask me. I would have spared them for stealing my weapons if they begged for mercy at my feet. But… to insult me in such a way. To underestimate me like this. I want you…" she then pointed at Plague. "…to end them. When they "hacked" in, I traced them. I know both where they are, and how many are in the sorry excuse of a group. If you do this for me I will give you whatever you want if it's in my power to do so."

"Why haven't you already sent your own men if you know where they are?" Plague asked after a short silence.

At that the smile again appeared.

A smirk worked its way on to Plague's face when he realized an asari smiling was quickly becoming one of his favorite images.

"What better insult is there then to have them all butchered by one measly merc? Now, is it a deal?" she asked as she sat back into her seat.

"I will do this for four things." Aria raised an eyebrow in interest. "One: a steady supply of food. Two: also a steady supply of clean water. I'm sure that last one my sound strange to you, but just humor me. If you were in my shoes you'd understand. Three: shelter. I need somewhere to sleep where I don't have to worry about some mutant sneaking up on me while I'm asleep. Four: Resources. I have a feeling I won't be able to re supply my ammunition. That means I will have to make my own with the minerals at my disposal. Will that form of payment be acceptable?"

"Well to tell you the truth I was expecting more." Aria said with a smile. "Your first two requests are strange, but will be no problem. But for the last two there will be two conditions." Plagues eyebrow went up at "conditions" clearly hoping it was something they both could enjoy. Overestimating his charm. "First if you succeed I would like to hire you…"

'Closer' Plague thought to himself. 'I don't know about becoming a gigolo but if she's the only customer…'

"…to be one of my guards or do similar jobs around Omega."

'Swing and a miss. Still one more condition so there's still hope.'

"You will be allowed to live in one of my safe houses for as long as you work for me. I will as well help you replenish your ammunition with my resources and the tools needed. The final condition is very simple." Plague crosses his fingers. "I want you…"

'Yeeessss…'

"…to bring me the leader of this group, alive."

'DAMMIT God, you fucking cock-blocker.'

Slowly Plague stood up with a look of disappointment and held out his hand. "Deal."

After the details were uploaded to both his omnitool and his Pipboy, Plague followed his soon to be boss's orders and entered a hover car transport that was waiting for him. The human driver didn't even wait for the doors to close before he flew off with his passenger.

After Plague spent the first few seconds in shock when he realized his transport was flying, he started looking through the data on his targets.

The group had been hiding from Aria in an old sewer line. There were eleven of them but they had acquired some YMIR mechs from the warehouse. He examined the schematics and started to identify weak points in the design and started coming up with strategies on how to deal with them.

The trip took about twenty minutes. The only thing worth mentioning to Plague (except for the obvious things someone from a nuclear wasteland would say was uncommon.) was that there seemed to be fewer lights, and fewer people. The people he was able to see from the hover car looked even shadier than those he had already met on Omega.

By the time they reached the hideout (which had what Plague thought looked a lot like a large sewage drain with a sealed door on it.) Plague knew which weapons to use.

Him and the driver got out and walked up to the door.

"Once I unlock this, I will leave." started the driver as he activated his omnitool. "I will fly over the place in three hours. If I don't see you I will leave and you will be on your own. If you don't show up at afterlife tomorrow we will assume your ass is grass. Understand me?" Plague nodded. "All right. As soon as I unlock the door they will know you are here. If you have any preparations or have any last words, I would do it now."

The vault dweller put on his helmet and re atomized both his double barrel shotgun and a powerfist that covered his right hand.

"Was never one for speeches." he the cocked the shotgun. "Open it."

"Good luck." the driver said as he opened the door making a holographic panel turn green and then ran to the hover car.

"Who needs luck when you have skill?" he said as he entered the sewer.

His view turned light green as he ran through the darkness. The only sound he heard was the splashes he made as he ran through the somewhat flooded tunnel.

When he saw a room coming up he activated his stealth field and vanished as the splashes stopped.

"He's cloaked!" shouted a turian voice.

Still in his stealth field he jumped over the makeshift cover and aimed his shotgun at the lookout with a sniper rifle.

Clearly he thought Plague was still in the tunnel. He didn't get to realize his mistake since a buckshot went into his head at point blank. The gun was too close for the shields to register it as a danger.

The sound of the gunshot bounced off of the metal walls of the room. The other hostiles in the room looked in shock when they saw the turian fall.

It took them two seconds to register what had had just happened and then started shooting.

By then though, Plague had already dived out of the line of fire and behind a large rusted pipe sticking out of the wall and chucked a flash bang grenade in their direction.

At the exact second the flash blinded the men, Plague's visor went black. The flash illuminated the 10x12 room. The ceiling was twelve feet above with a pipe that dripped water on the sewer floor. Three pipes stuck out from two of the walls. Two men shouted from the side of the pipe at the end of the room while the other two were actually inside the large pipe that's opening were half the height of the room.

The two in the pipe looked to be human with dark armor while the ones outside were one turian and a third human shape.

Before the flash died down he switched his shotgun for his scoped magnum and crossed the distance.

All movement slowed to a halt as the pipboy pumped artificial adrenaline into Plague's bloodstream and then went directly to his brain. (V.A.T.S. Oh yes. I went there.)

Within the next fraction of a second, Plague picked his targets and fired.

Not knowing how a turian's body worked, he sent two rounds into the alien's head. The three other bullets made nice homes for themselves within the three human skulls.

Plague smirked under his helmet. On the way to the "hideout" he studied the kinetic barriers everyone used. The shields were designed to defend against the smaller rounds made by those high-tech guns that shave off layers of the blocks they used as ammo. A nice way to ensure unlimited ammo unless you don't have any heat sinks to cool the gun down. Plague's rounds however were almost three times bigger. It was like wax paper defending against an axe.

He walked past the dead men in a casual manner as he reloaded his spent rounds. He spun the revolver in his hand as he walked.

The situation reminded him of many things.

("Watch your children…Watch your wives…He doesn't care whose meet he chops…" Plague's pipboy blasted as he hid behind cover.

Minigun fire rained upon the piece of wall he used as cover as he slipped a stainless steel combat knife to look at his attackers.

He barely noticed a large green shape before a stray bullet tore the knife out of his grip.

"Damit!" he cursed to himself.

"What do we do?" screamed the trader Plague was hired to escort to Megaton.

Earlier that day he and the trader wanted to pick the safest route. Plague being the survivalist he was wanted to go around the DC ruins, while the dumbass trader insisted they go through to put themselves two days ahead of schedule.

The ending result was a super mutant ambush between two buildings.

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to know my all mighty and knowledgeable navigator?" Plague shouted over the gunfire as he loaded his hunting rifle.

"Can you at least turn off that damn music?"

"I told you already." Plague pointed at the trader with his right hand that had a few robotic fingers. "The music only goes off if either I lose signal, or Three Dog starts yapping. Other than that I am not getting paid to lose my only source of…" he shoots out of cover and then returns. "…entertainment.")

"Watch your husband…watch your Wives… He doesn't care who's meat he chops." Plague sang to himself. "humm…humm… Chop that meat…" he trailed off as he turned the corner.

What he saw was the view down a rather large barrel attached to an equally large white robot.

On instinct he ducked under the gun arm and was about to drive his power fist into an opening.

"Error…" groaned a robotic voice.

The sound made Plague pause.

"Error… no targets." it said again.

Plague took a step back with a look of confusion under his visor.

After twenty seconds of "Error…" every time he waved a hand in front of the machine, he simply walked past it.

'When I saw your face for the first time on camera, I took a scan. And what I received was a corrupted data file.' was what Aria had said.

'Machines must have a harder time seeing me.' Plague thought to himself.

He continued through the tunnel. As he walked he saw at least nine more mechs. The only sounds were his footsteps and the slowly becoming annoying "Error" the robots would say when they look in his direction.

"This is going to be a fun hunt. I can tell already."

The last of the group didn't really manage to slow him down. One well-placed shot each and they fell.

The only one he spared was the leader. He pieced together which one it was by how he kept yapping orders. They also got frustrated by the mechs that seemed to just stand around as they got picked off one by one.

Now said human leader was being dragged through the tunnels unconscious with a nasty bruise on his head. If only he stayed quiet. One good hit with the stock of his shotgun shut him up.

His visor went to its normal tint when he stepped outside. He tied the man's arms behind his back and put him next to the door.

It would be two hours until the driver would return. Knowing this Plague atomized his suit to get rid of the foul odor he picked up while doing his task. He breathed a sigh of relief when the armor no longer smelled when they reappeared.

He spent the hours fiddling with both his pipboy and his omnitool. He nearly shouted in frustration when he couldn't find any good music.

He fiddled with the settings and eventually found some options on the omnitool. He could search for the music he wanted to listen to. He selected the human song list and searched for Galaxy News Radio.

"What the bloody hell?" he shouted as his search came up with nothing.

He started to realize some things. If there was a way to get to space in the Wasteland, then why didn't he know about it?

That question brought forth even more questions. He went out of the music function and searched for Earth. The images he saw was probably the last thing he expected to see.

No wasteland was mentioned. No Brotherhood of Steel. No Enclave. No nuclear war. No mutations. What he saw was green forests, grass, animals, and cities.

The world he knew didn't exist. He didn't exist. His father didn't exist. Even Sarah.

"What happened to me?" he asked no one. "I exist. The wasteland exists... Did it?" he shook his head when that absurd question exited him.

He got up as the driver appeared above him and started to land.

"Sarah was real!"

Plague's starting to come up with questions. Where will this lead him through MA 2? Why is it that his image corrupts data when he is watched and why is earth not the earth he knew? Plague's existence is beginning to draw attention.

Next chapter I am planning to make it a big one. So please review or ask questions.

Next chapter. The Wildcard chapter 6 Recruit The Wildcard


	6. Chapter 6 Recruit The Wildcard

Wow I got this chapter up fast. lol. Anyway nice. A lot of people are reading this. Now where did i leave you guys? Ah yes. Plague cleaning house. Also Plague finds out that how Aria said it. "In a way you don't exist." Plague uses his omnitool and can't find any signs of his old home. And why does Plague corrupt data whenever he is scanned?

Chapter 6 Recruit The Wildcard

The Wildcard

Chapter 6

The trip back to Afterlife was quiet. Plague just sat back and relaxed letting those questions spin around in his head.

The leader of Aria's irritation sat in the seat next to him with his hands still tied. When he woke up during the trip the first thing he did was start yapping at Plague.

He shut up and kept his eyes forward when his captor aimed his revolver right between the man's legs and pulled the gun's hammer making it ready to fire.

Sure Plague was a little sadistic. But in his opinion it made life more entertaining.

The captive started panicking when he saw the lights that marked the place as Afterlife. He groveled, he begged, he bribed.

When they landed in front of the place Plague dragged the man kicking and screaming. Once the doors opened Plague was actually grateful for the dam techno music.

There was not as many people there as last time.

As he walked past the bar he signaled the bartender for a drink. The turian worked fast and handed Plague a shot of some blue fluid as he walked by with his screaming delivery.

His visor opened and he drank the drink quickly and was surprised by how much it tasted like brandy. Plague turned and tossed the small empty glass to the bartender who seemed to have been expecting him to do so and nodded when Plague signaled for a double.

The captive cursed as he was dragged up the smell staircase to Aria's booth. It was funny to the Wastelander when he saw the man's face go pale as he saw his ex-boss's twisted smile.

"Jeremy. Jeremy. Jeremy. Why aren't you happy to see me?" Aria asked in a mock disappointed voice. "I'm happy to see you. Plague. I hope the rest of them whir dealt with?" she asked as she looked at her replacement for poor Jeremy.

"The other ten are dead ma'am. This guy here was shouting the orders the whole time so one can only assume he was the boss of the outfit." Plague answered.

"Is that so?" Aria said as her eyes seemed to start burning holes into the man before her.

"And if I remember correctly. On the way back he kept trying to save himself with offers. One of which was for me to let him go and take that beautiful head off your shoulders. So unbecoming of a gentlemen, don't you agree?" Plague then placed his helmet on part of the couch.

Aria seemed to chuckle a little at Plague's sense of humor.

"Quite." Aria then signaled a guard who sent something to Plague's omnitool. "As promised. Once you leave the same driver you met earlier will drop you off at the safe house. The kitchen is fully stocked, and in case something happens I got a mechanic to check the water filters. As for your resources, enter in the terminal there what you need and it will be delivered to you shortly."

"Thank you Aria T'Loak." Plague said as Aria signaled him to stop.

"Call me Aria. You're already far from my bad side."

"Very well Aria. I am at your service." Plague then gave a bow.

Aria then let out another chuckle at that.

"Quite the flatterer aren't you, 101?" she asked as she signaled a guard to take the tied man away.

"I seem to always know when I am speaking with someone who properly disserves to be respected." Plague answered with a smile.

"And I'm sure that the fact you keep stealing glances at me when I'm not looking has nothing to do with it?" his new boss asked with a smirk.

Aria laughed when Plague gave her a shocked look.

"Am I that obvious?" Plague blurted out in a joking tone.

"Next time I catch you I will have to do something about it." she said as the bartender from earlier walked up to the booth and handed Aria a glass with green liquid and then handed Plague his double. She then raised her glass up as Plague followed suit. "Welcome Mr. 101 to my employ."

"Cheers." Plague said as they both drank.

Later that day.

"Dammit!" Plague shouted as he skimmed through the list of elements on the screen.

He had stayed around Afterlife for a few more hours and later finally left. The driver's name ended up being Todd. The rest of the name Plague didn't really care about. However he seemed like a good guy. Turns out Todd will be driving Plague around Omega whenever his new boss has a job for him. Right now Plague was chewing on some kind of energy bar as he pushed buttons on the terminal at his desk next to his bed.

He had trouble finding the right minerals to use. Many of the new minerals he saw would damage his guns. Hell one would actually burn through the barrel. If he wanted to further use them he would have to seriously upgrade his weapons. Replace every part with stronger metals, find a way to insert a thermal clip, find a suitable replacement for the stocks that could take the recoil.

He didn't want to do that. Most of his most trusted weapons had been with him since he left the vault. He could understand remaking the ripper with a stronger motor with an equally strong bladed chain. Now that he thought about it he would have to remake all his melee weapons. It was only a matter of time until he would run into something his blades can't cut and his blunt weapons couldn't smash.

He spent his day at the workbench trying new ideas. The vault origin genies spent hours working on the tools of his profession. Many of his old weapons were dismantled and placed on the bench in a well organized manner.

The process of him remaking his weapons just flew by. He had managed to build a new customized ripper with a blue chain. It also had a new design to the hilt that fully covered the hand.

Green sparks sprayed across the work area as he tested the weapon on a thick slab of metal. Surprisingly the new ripper cut through the metal like paper. But he could feel the heat going to his hand. He would have to find a way to insulate the weapon.

The room was dark except for the occasional shower of sparks.

When he deemed the ripper to be ready he re atomized his former ripper. He held both the new and the old versions in his hands. He didn't know what to do with his old partners.

He placed the old ripper on the workbench and started to dismantle it and as he did so he had an idea.

He removed the chain of the older weapon and attached it to the newer model's hilt. Plague knew the idea was strange but he needed something to stay with him from his past life.

As he started rebuilding the rest of his weapons he did similar things for them. He would take something from his partners to remind him of where he came from, what he had done, what he had accomplished.

Luckily Aria wanted to give Plague a break as a reward so he spent the day working. He would only leave the workbench to heed the call of nature or to grab something to eat.

Finally with some final welding Plague was finished. He atomized the children of his partners.

In the wasteland a good weapon was a friend, a part of yourself, a companion to fight at your side.

In this new age they would serve as just that.

The only weapon he didn't rebuild was the laser pistol, which had belonged to Sarah. He never used it for two reasons. One was he was terrible with energy weapons. The second was it was Sarah's. he was afraid it would get damaged if he used it.

His armor would need to be upgraded as well. He saw no need to do any further metal work since his studies proved that they all exceeded the armor requirements of any armor he examined. However he had to build in a kinetic field. Sure he could just put on one of the shield belts one of Aria's men had supplied him with, but the technology was new to him.

He wouldn't feel at ease until he took the contraption apart to see how it works.

He spent a few more hours tweaking the system. By the time he was done it no longer was a belt. Just some device he managed to strap to his wrist just a little bit higher on his arm, just above his Pip-Boy.

The shields had more strength. It could even block against his own weapons. He thought it was a good idea in case someone managed to get their hands on one.

When the shield activated it gave off a rusty red glow and then vanished. The quiet steady hum was the only way to tell if it was still there.

The final thing he did was create his new ammunition.

It was late. Plague walked through the safe house with a tired look on his face. He never took off his armor even though he knew he was alone. Call it his instincts. He was always ready for something to try to kill him.

He got a glass and filled it with clear water. He looked at the clear liquid with a smile on his face. Plague drank deeply.

A few minutes later Plague found himself in the bathroom looking at the shower. He turned the knobs and was greeted by both the sight of water and the sound of it hitting the shower floor.

101 didn't even wait for the water to warm up. He atomized his gear and armor except for his new shield. He managed to make it water proof like his Pip-Boy.

The feeling of the clean water on his skin was almost alien to him. He only gave a slight shiver from the cold.

Water ran down his battleworn scar covered form. A large circular scar on his right shoulder blade, teeth marks down his left arm, the burns down his right leg and bullet wounds that had long since healed.

The scar from the shot to the head was nearly invisible compared to the self inflicted scars on his forehead.

Plague seemed to relax for the first time in a while when the water finally became warmer.

He finally looked down at himself. He had changed a lot since he left the vault. He gained a muscular, dangerously skinny, but athletic body. His right hand was missing its first and middle fingers. Two robot fingers took their place. He had built them himself along with the help of the Brotherhood of Steel.

It must have been shocking to them to see him again.

The fingers were built into his hand. They didn't need charging. They simply moved whenever Plague's nerves wanted them to. A complicated pulley system that utterly confused the scribes. The process made perfect sense to Plague. After they tried a few designs the knights asked him to teach the system to the scribes. The idea could help both them and others who may have lost a limb in the waists.

He knew how to build whole arms and legs. He was happy to aid his former love's brothers.

The thought sent a jolt of pain through his system. Not physical, but mental. He rested his head on the shower wall as the water ran over him.

With his right hand he grabbed the tags around his neck.

Sarah Lyons was engraved in the metal along with her service number.

Other tags hung along with it. All saying other names Plague had been given. 101, Plague, Mr. Vault, The Courier. Each name he had no part in inventing. He just simply accepted the titles.

He let go of Sarah's tag to let it rest along with his tags on one strong chain. The chain originally Belonged to Sarah. In a way it seemed to hold his other titles together.

Slowly his breathing slowed down. After what felt like hours Plague turned off the shower.

He exited and looked in the mirror to see a pale man with cut short whitish blond hair. It was just short enough that he wouldn't have to deal with it.

Distractions like getting hair out of your eyes could get you killed on the battlefield.

He was skinnier than he thought. On Plague's best days he would only eat once a day and nothing else unless he felt that he wouldn't find food for a while. He almost died many times throughout the first few months he left the vault. To him food could not be wasted. In his hunger he became a cannibal. The condition was disgusting to him. But he felt the urges when ever he was under extreme stress or hunger. He was disgusted with himself afterwards. No matter who he carved. Raider, slaver, Enclave, Legion, hell even super mutants felt his blade and roasted over a fire.

At least he had the control to avoid the female bodies. He felt bad enough from simply killing them.

He would sometimes find himself biting his own arm.

Plague's 101 jumpsuit re-atomized on him as he walked through the safe house. It was an apartment with a good view. Probably enough space for three people to live in.

He ate another one of those bars and once finished collapsed onto the couch. Quickly his eyelids became heavy and he went to sleep.

His next few days were filled with small guard jobs from Aria. On the third day he walked into Afterlife with a sense of familiarity.

The same turian bartender handed him a drink as he walked by and caught the empty glass that was tossed his way over Plague's shoulder as if it was all choreographed in one fluid motion. Plague got along well with the bartender. He always seemed to know what alcohol Plague felt like drinking. No matter if it was a drink from Earth or some colorful liquid Plague had never seen before.

After a while he simply accepted the drinks without question as if he was a doctor giving him a prescription.

"Aria." Plague said when he looked upon the image of his boss.

"Ah, Plague. How was the deal? The sooner I get those damn slavers off my station the better." Aria asked.

Plague gave a slight shrug as he sat down.

"I think it went rather well. Until one tried to put a shock collar around my neck."

Aria lifted an eyebrow. "Really? Rather bold aren't they? I assume you took care of them?"

"I killed all but one. The one I left happened to be the dumbass who tried to collar me. I cut off an arm and freed those they kidnapped on Omega. I sent the bastard off with a warning to his boss. If they show up again just let me know and I'll deal with it." Plague informed her.

"Wish I was there to see It." the asari said with a smile appearing. "Funny how I don't need to give you instructions."

"I have dealt with slavers in my time. It's a lot different now but the principle's the same."

"Is that so?" she said not really as a question. "Well I don't have anything for you to do. I'll give you a call when something comes up."

"Alright boss." Plague said as he relaxed in his seat. "Hope you don't mind me just hanging around here."

"Not at all. But if you try to seduce me again I might add a scar to your collection." Aria warned in a joking tone.

"How did you know I had a collection?" Plague asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You're doing it again." Aria warned.

"Not my fault your attractive." they both laughed at this.

The laughter was interrupted by a beeping sound that was barely heard over the techno music Plague still hated.

"Is someone calling you?" Plague asked Aria who had a look of confusion.

"That's not me." she said as she pointed to Plague's right hand.

Slowly Plague looked down and froze at what he saw. His Pip-Boy was flashing along with the beeping getting louder.

"Something wrong?" Aria asked when she saw her business partner's expression. "Does that happen often?"

Plague didn't respond. He simply shook his head in disbelief.

His Pip-Boy was picking up an Enclave signal. As soon as the signal appeared it was gone.

"You might want to get that repaired." offered Aria as she ordered a drink.

In a calm voice Plague responded barely loud enough for her to hear over the music.

"…some things can't be repaired."

Taylor Shepard POV

"You know how much I hate Omega, right?" Garrus asked Shepard. "Don't get me wrong. I have had some good times but really?" the turian whined.

"Cut the chatter." Taylor Shepard ordered in an annoyed tone. "We aren't even going to be here long. Just don't run around screaming "I'm Archangel" and you'll be fine."

"That's a funny image." said the thief next to her with a black hood and black and white outfit. "I can sell tickets to "The Crazy Turian"."

"Kasumi…"

"What? I'd split the profits."

Taylor just shook her head while she massaged her temples.

They hadn't even exited the docking area yet.

She wore her new red inferno armor minus the helmet. Timmy insisted on her using it. After she used it the first time she actually came to love it. But the damn helmet was ugly as hell. It also helped amplify her biotics.

The doors opened and she lead her group straight to afterlife. If anyone knew where the Wildcard was it would be Aria the "queen" of Omega.

She walked into Afterlife and saw the familiar lights, alien techno music. The guards seemed to give her a quick glance when they saw her party was armed and then looked away once the realized who it was.

Ignoring the glances she walked through the club and walked up to the booth that Aria always liked to sit in.

"Shepard. It's been a while." she said as she signaled her guest to sit.

"I hear your Archangel hunt was rather interesting. Considering how many bodies we had to get rid of."

"I'll be honest with you. It didn't go as planned. But I've been through worse." Shepard explained.

"I bet. Anyway. You're probably here for a reason. What do you need comander?"

"Like last time, I'm looking for someone. I don't have a name, but he should really stick out in a crowd." Shepard started as she leaned forward. "He has been accepting merc jobs around Omega and appeared here three days ago. Has a unique shaped helmet that looks a little like a quarian's mask." she noticed Aria's eyes widen a little in recognition. "Have you seen him?"

"Have I seen him? If I had and told you what would you do with him?" she asked in a calm but intrigued voice.

"I want to recruit him for my mission. No harm will come to him."

With that answer both Aria and some of her guards started quietly laughing.

"I don't need to worry about him. Not like you could touch him." Aria explained.

"So you do know him then?"

"Know him? He works for me. You just missed him actually."

Taylor Shepard's eyes widened as she looked around the club.

"He can't be far. He said he was heading over to the market district for some window shopping. You can catch him if you hurry. But…" Aria said as her guests started to leave. "If he accepts your proposal, tell him I would like to speak with him before he leaves. Careful though. He's quick to fight or flight."

With a nod the commander ran out of Afterlife with her party not far behind her.

It didn't take them long to get to the market district. They all stopped on the side of the civilian traffic.

It was hard to look around with all the people walking around. They ended up standing there in the center of the market district for half an hour.

"Right there!" Garrus shouted as he pointed into the crowed.

The other two looked and barely made out the helmet worn by the Wildcard. He must have seen them since he started running through the crowd.

"Dammit! Garrus you're with me." Shepard ordered as they started running after him. "Kasumi find a way around and try to cut him off. Remember we don't know what weapons he uses."

"Right Shepard." Kasumi acknowledged as she cloaked while running.

The man was clearly in shape. He jumped over counters and made quick sharp turns to try to confuse his pursuers.

The chase lasted for a few minutes till they managed to corner him. His back was against a railing.

Both Garrus and shepard were out of breath.

"Wait…" Garrus started between breaths. "We just want to…Dammit!"

The words didn't make it to him. As he was talking the helmeted human jumped over the rail.

Shepard and Garrus looked over the rail and saw nothing.

Plague POV

Plague had jumped over the railing and grabbed onto the rail of the lower level.

He was now standing in an alley trying to catch his breath.

'Blood Pack? No.' he thought to himself trying to identify his pursuers. 'Blue Suns?'

In his thoughts he almost didn't notice the quiet footsteps approaching him. On reflex he threw his head back to avoid some air.

At first he thought he was mistaken until he managed to block an invisible jab.

"Interesting." a female voice said as Plague blocked another punch.

"I…can say the same for you miss…?" he asked as he avoided what had to be a kick.

"Goto." she answered.

"Well miss Goto. I'm afraid…I'd have to level the battlefield." Plague announced as parts of his visor started glowing red.

The next second Plague caught an invisible fist as his visor started showing him Goto's body heat. The next second after that he twisted her arm behind her back as he himself became invisible.

Kasumi Goto POV

Kasumi was shocked when this man managed to catch her hand while she was cloaked. She was even more shocked when he started to disappear before her eyes as he put her own arm behind her back.

The thief started to struggle in his grasp but then went motionless as she felt a sharp edge touch her neck. She also felt herself getting pulled closer to the man's body.

If she was able to make jokes she might have said something about how the situation could have made a nice scene in a romantic novel.

"I don't want to kill you. So quiet please." he whispered closely into her ear.

It was surprising to her how his voice somehow sent shivers down her spine.

As soon as he said that the rest of her group came around the corner.

They both were invisible to them with their cloaks on in the dark alley.

Garrus activated the light on his omnitool while Shepard followed. When she saw her commander messing with something on her omnitool she let out a quiet sigh. She was tracking her omnitool. A clever idea Mordin had in case the group got separated.

"Kasumi?" Shepard called out in the darkness. "Where are you?"

As they slowly got closer Kasumi was slowly half guided and half dragged further into the alley.

He didn't know they were tracking her.

"Kasumi, are you alright?" Garrus asked out of worry. "Are you hurt?"

Kasumi could make out a silent sigh from the man holding her.

"What do you want with me?" he asked Shepard in a somewhat altered voice.

Garrus and Shepard's eyes went wide in worry as they heard the voice.

"He's cloaked." whispered the turian.

"I can see that…just shut up Garrus." Shepard said in annoyance and slight panic. "Where is Kasumi Goto? We know she's here."

"Deactivate your cloak." he demanded Kasumi in a polite voice.

She did so but the knife was still at her throat.

"Stay back." she said quickly to her friends when they started to approach her.

"Kasumi, are you alright?" Shepard asked.

"Somewhat. Appears I'm not the only stealthy one here." she answered with as close to a cheerful voice she could use at the moment.

"Now, back to my question. What do you want?" the bodiless voice asked.

"I am on a mission." Shepard explained. "Human colonists are disappearing from their colonies. No bodies found, no signs of struggle. Just simply vanish. An alien race called the Collectors are responsible. I am building a team. I have heard of what you can do and I am hoping we could work out a deal. But if something happens to Ms. Goto the offer is out the window. You are free to decline the offer. We won't try to stop you from leaving."

As the seconds ticked by Kasumi could feel the man's quick movements as he was probably looking for a way out of the alley.

"She's not going to just attack you." Kasumi started as she slowly looked to her right where the man's face could be. "She won't do anything unless you give her reason to."

"Milady let me just say that this is not the first time I have heard such a thing." he said with his voice sounding more intelligent. He then started talking to the commander. "I will let her go if you remove all your weapons and put them on the ground."

A few seconds later Shepard and Garrus started taking off their weapons and did as they were told.

Once the final gun was on the ground Kasumi felt the knife leave her neck as her hand was let go.

Instantly she took a step away from the man and turned around as he started to appear.

Her face was shown in his polished visor. He put the small knife in his duster jacket and held out a hand to her.

"I feel as if I left you at a disadvantage Ms. Goto. You may call me Plague. Or 101." he introduced himself.

She slowly shook his hand as the man took a slight bow when she stepped to the side.

"I am Commander Taylor Shepard." Shepard introduced herself.

Plague bowed again and shook her hand.

"You seem to have an air about you." Plague said. "I always know when I'm speaking to someone who deserves respect. You walk with authority in your movements. I can also tell you have been in many fights. If I accept this offer would I be serving under you madam?"

"There is a second in command on my ship but yes. On the ground team I will be giving the orders." she answered.

"Then that just leaves the form of payment."

"I have heard about how you don't accept credits. If you accept the offer you will be given a place to stay on the ship during the mission. We have food and water, and I make regular trips to uncolonized worlds to store up on minerals and other resources that I am willing to share with you to do with as you please."

With that Plague crossed his arms and looked up as if in deep thought. It was quiet as he pondered over the offer.

Kasumi wanted to add something but she didn't know if it would make much difference in the negotiation.

"We also have a bar." she blurted out more as a joke then throwing something onto the table.

As soon as she said that Plague's head snapped to her direction.

"Why didn't you say that earlier?" he said followed by some laughter as if the man speaking earlier was a completely different person. "Hell the fact that I would be surrounded by such beauties as yourselves already had me." he then snapped a salute to Shepard. "Brotherhood of Steel and former NCR marine reporting for duty Ma'am."

101's on deck. What will happen?


	7. Chapter 7 First impressions and memory

**Sorry had to repost chapter due to technical issues.**

**Welcome readers of The Wildcard. So Plague is now on deck.**

**The Wildcard**

**Part 7**

"What cloaking modal is that?" Kasumi asked on their way to Afterlife.

"What do you mean?" Plague asked back. "It's manufacturer? The specks?"

Plague could make out the slight movement under the thief's hood that lead him to believe she was raising on eyebrow. "I only know how it works and how to repair it. Other than that… no idea except it's from China. Why you ask."

"Well it cloaks you but when you had me…incapacitated I heard a slight…humming. While I'm at it, how did you see me?" the thief asked as she looked into Plague's reflective visor.

To answer Mrs. Goto's question Plague looked at her as parts of his visor went red as he tapped one of the red parts.

"Thermal vision, night vision, motion tracker, hearing amplification, add that to my already present augmentations I can both hear and see you."

Kasumi looked in awe and was about to ask another question when Shepard interrupted. "Kasumi, hold all questions for when we get back on the Normandy. Faster we get off this station, the sooner Garrus stops twitching."

With that Plague looked at the turian and noted the look of alertness as his eyes darted to empty shadows around him.

"Normandy Shepard?" he asked looking at his soon to become commander.

"That's my ship." she answered flatly. "Anyway, Aria wanted me to bring you to her before you leave."

"Oh?" Plague said with a raised eyebrow that went unnoticed to the others. "I was actually going to visit her anyway."

"Why?" Garrus asked as he inserted himself into the conversation. "She doesn't strike me as nice company."

"I don't know about that. She and I get along well in my opinion."

"I'll believe that when I see it." Garrus retorted in a joking tone.

After that conversation the walk to Afterlife went quiet. Throughout the walk Plague couldn't help but examine the group and commit the faces to memory.

Commander Taylor Shepard wore a unique looking red armor and he couldn't help but notice how form fitting it was. He also took note of the barely noticeable scars on the left side of her face. She had piercing dark blue eyes, high cheekbones, no makeup but that didn't mean she couldn't draw a man's attention. Her skin tone was slightly tanned. The last thing to note was her short Black ponytail that was shoulder length held by a dark braid that was almost unnoticeable.

Next he looked at the turian. Grayish scales, blue facial tattoo on the left side of his face. The other side sported a nasty scar. Plague's experience told him it was from an explosive of some kind. His blue eyes tolled Plague he was looking at a man who was very precise. He reminded him of the NCR rangers, and a friend of his named Boone. Explained why he sported a sniper rifle on his back. He wore damaged blue armor. Most of the damage was focused on his right side and showed almost the same kind of explosive damage as his scar.

'Must be one hell of a story there.' Plague thought to himself.

Finally he looked towards Kasumi Goto.

Like with Shepard, the first thing he noted was her outfit. The point that she wore an almost skintight outfit earned her a few more seconds of Plague's full attention then when he looked at Shepard. Next was her face. She was clearly Japanese and had a slender look. Plague saw some purple lipstick in the center of her lower lip and a little under it. He could almost make out some dark makeup around her eyes under the shadow of her hood. That brought his attention to her eyes. He could barely see them. Somehow they seemed to glow faintly under her hood whenever a light managed to find its way to them. Plague was however unable to tell what color they were.

It only took Plague five seconds to fully examine the people he was walking with. But when he looked into Kasumi's eyes those seconds just ticked by. He couldn't seem to look away.

"Is something wrong?" the thief asked when she noticed Plague's visor aimed at her.

Quickly Plague looked forward when she looked at him.

"Sorry. Just spaced off there." 101 answered as he looked forward thankful for having his helmet on to cover the embarrassed look that was almost rare to him.

With that answer Kasumi shrugged her shoulders and couldn't help the smile forming on her face.

**Taylor Shepard POV**

The guard in front of the Afterlife entrance gave a slight nod in greeting that Shepard was sure had to be directed to the newest member of her group.

The guard opened the door for Plague and let them in. Almost instantly Plagues body language showed he was irritated by the music that washed over them.

The former Specter could already tell that the man she was walking with was one who preferred the quiet.

She couldn't help but show a look of confusion when she saw him signal to the bartender who handed him a glass of batarion ale. Sure she was no stranger to a bar but when an empty glass flew over Plague's shoulder as they walked past the bar, she thought she would have to pay for a new glass until she saw the turian bartender catch it out of the air as if the two had a unique routine going on.

Throughout the whole thing Plague was leading, so none of the others saw his face as the visor slid back to cover it. Shepard noticed the glances the guards and what she assumed were the regulars giving the Wildcard as they gave him a wide berth. Not out of fear, but respect for the man's space. Within that short time he had been working for Aria he must have earned the proper respect.

"Plague, I see you found the Commander." Aria T'loak stated as they walked into the booth.

To add to the Shepard's astonishment, Plague sat on the couch without getting signaled by his employer.

"What can I say? They were persistent." Plague answered making a smile appear on the queen of Omega's face.

'That is rare.' she noted to herself.

She could imagine Garrus's eyes going wide behind her.

"Have they told you why they were looking for you?" Aria asked.

"She has a job for me. If you wouldn't mind, I would like to partake in her little mission."

Aria's face changed and seemed to look a little saddened by his words, which took the others by surprise.

"If you feel that you should then by all means. Although I will miss your sense of hummer." her face then changed back to a look of business. "As part of our deal, you will move out of the safe house and remove your belongings before tomorrow when it will be cleaned out." a smile appeared again. "But if you ever want your job back just let me know. Hell you're the only human besides Shepard here who I get along with."

Her and Plague both laughed at that.

"No need to worry about my stuff. You know I carry everything on me." Plague's words caused Shepard to give him a quizzical look.

'That's all he has?' she asked herself as she looked at the man sitting where Aria would usually let her sit.

She couldn't see those antique weapons she heard about. He didn't have a change of clothes, bags, anything. In the end she assumed he made his gear disappear and must make it reappear like she saw on the video feed.

"Well, that wraps up everything then. Have fun." Aria said as she looked back at her data pad.

"I'll come back after the mission." he said as he stood up. "Don't slack off four eyes." he said to one of the batarion guards who gave him an irritated look.

'Of course he would come back.' Shepard thought as she gave Aria a nod. 'A queen needs a court jester.'

**Plague POV**

Plague let out a sharp whistle when he saw what he assumed was the Normandy through a view port.

"That disserves some of my personal time to examine." he said as if the ship was a brand new shiny fat-man with the ability to launch multiple mini nukes.

"I better not find you dismantling it." Shepard warned as they entered the airlock.

"Alright." he said as he raised his hands up in surrender. "I'll respect your privacy and toys if you respect mine."

His new boss seemed to let out a sigh of relief as the decontamination started. Everything looked normal until the sweeping light touched him.

"Shit…" Plague blurted out making the others look at him.

Not even full second later red lights started to flash as an automated voice started talking.

"Error."

"EDI, statues report. What's wrong?"

"Commoner Sh…sh…epard, I am experie…eee…n…cing some malfu…uuuuuu...nction with the ship's sc…sca…aaa…anners." the voice said as Plague rubbed the back of his helmet.

"Um…Commander…that's my bad."

Everyone in the small room looked right at him.

"What did you do?" Shepard asked in frustration.

"Your ship…and every other synthetic or machine…can't see me."

"What does that mean?" Garrus asked as he was pressing buttons on the doors red display.

"If I am scanned or recorded and that data or footage needs to be saved in a file…Let's just say I corrupt data." everyone's eyes widened.

(Somewhere The Illusive Man is yelling at his technicians when a corrupted file started to mess with Cerberus's main frame, putting many projects on hold.)

"EDI," Shepard started. "Turn off the scanners and let us in. turn off all scanners and security cameras for a few seconds and delete the last few seconds recorded if you encounter this problem."

The voice didn't respond until a few seconds later when the red lights turned off and the door opened.

"Very well Commander."

**Taylor Shepard POV**

Shepard let out a sigh as she looked at Plague with some clearly visible to everyone in the room irritation.

"First things first I guess." she said as Plague followed her into the ship. "I want a debriefing. What the hell was that?"

For the first time since she met him, the magnetic locks on Plague's helmet let out a hiss as he reached for it.

This made her and the rest of her ground team's eyes widen a little as the helmet was lifted.

This would be the first time anyone on the ship ever saw the Wildcard's face. Sure she saw him on the video feed, but it wasn't clear enough for a full view of his face.

The first thing she saw was those eyes. Light blue. Almost silver in the right light. They unnerved her how they seemed to look through her. She also notices how hollow they looked. This man had most likely seen many things in his life that he shouldn't have.

His almost white blond hair was kept in a shirt military fashion that showed he was disciplined.

He was extremely pale as well.

**Garrus Vakarian POV**

Those icy hollow eyes didn't go unnoticed by the former C-Sec. They reminded him too much of the killers he had both put away, and taken out on Omega.

But the only difference he saw was that those eyes showed great guilt in the things he had done.

As he looked into those eyes, his reflexes almost didn't catch the small flicker of eye movement to him and then back to his Commander.

**Kasumi Goto POV**

Kasumi felt like she was standing before a man who had far more experience than she did. He had caught her as if she was too slow in that alley. When she saw those eyes she could tell that the man would clearly be able to quickly react to almost any situation.

'Guess I was lucky he didn't see me as a threat.' she thought to herself.

After that thought she looked at the collection of scars on his forehead. It was as if she was looked at a cracked glass spider web pattern with a small circle in the center that was all a tone lighter than the rest of his skin. The scars didn't show completely so they didn't affect his appearance that much.

"Well like I said before." Plague started as they walked to the conference room. "You can call me Plague. Or 101, if that is better."

They then entered the conference room where Miranda was waiting for them.

Plague POV

Plague quickly examined the woman with a quick glance and saw almost every detail of her.

The right curves, the right proportions, slightly seductive movement as if broadcasting her appearance to every male in sight. Clearly a nice advantage if she wanted to get someone to cooperate with her or help her get information.

Sadly an appearance like that would surely attract the wrong attention if she was in the wasteland. She would be attacked the first chance they got, used, and then eventually sold as a slave for a high price if she survived that long. Killing her at that point would have actually been an act of mercy compared to the stuff they would put her through.

On second thought the same could be said for Mrs. Goto and Shepard.

That thought quickly sent a jolt of anger through him. The things he had seen.

To keep his anger in check Plague tightened his grip on the helmet in his left hand while his face never changed.

"I'm guessing this is our newest member?" the woman asked while looking Plague over.

"Plague, this is Miranda Lawson. The second in command I told you about." Shepard informed him.

"And the deal gets better." Plague said as he shook her hand. "Plague."

"Well, I see we have Gentlemen among us." Miranda observed as she shook his hand and then went to a business like look.

Plague mentally let out a groan.

'She's THAT kind of second in command.'

"On this ship we have rules. You have to be able to fully obey any and all orders given to you." she drilled as she walked to the other side of the table. "I will not tolerate any insubordination on this ship."

That made Plague's eyebrow rise as he looked at Shepard.

"Thought you said she was the second in command?" Plague stated interrupting the woman's speech. "It's out of character for me to say this… well about a beautiful lady, but she sounds like a control freak already. And I just stepped on the ship."

Miranda's face went from business to a combination of confusion and slight anger at the comment.

"You are insulting your superior Plague. I advise you to think about what you say next." Miranda announced while pointing at him.

"I fully respect who you are." Plague said while holding a chuckle. "It's just the way YOU are implying that since I will be on this ship that I will follow any orders directed at me with that attitude." Plague then focused on her completely making the woman give a slight emotion of fear that was unnoticed to everyone ells but him. "You're attractive. Yes I see that. You're intelligent. I see that as well along with that shell you have formed around yourself." Miranda's eyes widened along with the others in the room. "You have been living in someone's shadow for as long as you can remember. No will to make your own choices. A lifestyle was put before you. Someone wanted you to bend to their will, carry on a legacy you wanted no part in, you carry yourself the way you do now to make up for all the time you spent crammed into that way of living." Mrs. Lawson looked in utter shock. "And then you got away somehow. But I guess there is no difference since now you are wrapped around someone else's finger so tightly that you would follow any order blindly."

The room was silent. If it wasn't for Plague's good hearing he would have thought they all stopped breathing.

"I will show respect when I see it in return. An equal and fair exchange in my opinion."

Miranda Lawson POV

For the first time in a while Miranda was speechless. This man before her had seen right through her as if she had somehow opened a door to her mind and let him frolic through her life and call her out on everything.

She had no control over the conversation. Even when he looked at her when he entered the room she felt as if this Plague could see every part of her in those hollow eyes that borrowed into hers.

She had used her looks to get the upper hand, but now all she wanted to do was cover her with anything she could find to get out of his view. Those eyes looked bottomless. As if she was looking directly into an empty void.

"Y-ou will stop this act of insubordination now!" she almost shouted to the man in a frantic attempt to turn the tables on the one sided conversation. She needed to put him in control. "Hand over that device on your arm and any other weapons you are carrying. I will not have someone walk around this ship armed that has no respect for authority." with that she felt a slight tug on the corners of her mouth and made a small smile.

Whatever small sense of security and control Miranda thought she had gained on the man vanished when those eyes seemed to narrow.

"No." he said flatly. "That is something I will not do. Even if I wanted to I still wouldn't."

"You are disobeying a direct order." she shouted. "You will hand it over now!"

"Not going to happen."

"101, Miranda Lawson!" Shepard shouted making both glances look at her. "That is enough! Miranda, you are the SECOND in command on my ship. You will control yourself." she then looked at Plague. "And you, I don't need fights popping up around my ship. Is that understood?"

"Understood." Miranda said as she franticly tried to pull herself together.

"Crystal Ma,am." Plague said in a calm voice as he shrugged his shoulders. "One more thing though. I do have a sense and respect for authority." he started as he looked back at Miranda who almost took a step back when those eyes borrowed into her again. "I will obey the Commander here. I don't know everything about her but I will follow her. She has at least showed a small fraction of respect towards me by saying I had a choice to not get involved with this mission. Once I see you do the same I will play nicely." he then looked back to his new Commander who seemed a little surprised at the instant loyalty being shown to her. "Where do you want me to set up boss? I'm a little tired of daddy's…" that word hit her instantly. "…little…" her eyes were widening as pure rage started to take control."…girl."

With that last word Miranda's boitics flared as she snapped. She no longer could control her actions. She wanted to no longer have to look at this man who forced his way into her head.

Before she could register what she was doing, she put almost all of her energy into a biotic push that targeted the man on the other side of the table.

The force took him by surprise as he was flung through the still open door. His grip on his helmet let go as he flew. There was a sickening loud crack when Plague's head hit the wall just outside the room as blood sprayed out of his mouth. His body was in a heap on the floor as his neck was at the wrong angle. His eyes looked as if they had glazed over as his face was stuck and showed a look of pain.

The satisfying feeling she got from getting the man out of the room disappeared when she heard that crack. What took its place was instant shock and fear at the action she had just done.

She had just jeopardized the mission. She killed one of Shepard's ground team members. The Illusive Man would be furies with her. Just the thought of what he could do made her eyes feel like they could water. Her sister was under his protection. Would he leave them? Would he stop protecting her?

"I…my God." she barely managed to get out before she was grabbed in a strong biotic field. "Co…Commander!" she almost shouted in distress at her instant immobility as she was lifted off the ground.

Her frantic eyes looked at the woman she had spent two years to put back together.

"Miranda Lawson!" she shouted at her immobilized second in command.

"No…major damage boss." said a voice outside of the room that made the Commander drop Miranda in surprise.

**Plague POV**

"Fucking bloody hell!" Plague shouted as he pulled himself to his feet and was welcomed by a bunch of cracking sounds.

He had run into biotics in his small career with Aria, but that was the first time he had been sent into a wall like that. Thankfully his bones received the proper attention by a beautiful doctor he met in the clinic outside of the Loss Vages strip.

He was drawn to them by the rumors that said they found ways to give people such as himself some positive augmentations. Two of which was stronger bones and tougher skin. His skeleton's bones however weren't the only bones the beautiful doctor examined. (All Clinic Implants. Payment method not implied.)

He had lost count of how many times he had pulverized a man's face in or managed to break a supper mutants arm when he happened to run out of ammo.

He finally straightened himself a little more when he cracked his neck while letting out the next profanity on his mind.

He then stumbled into the room as he spat a good amount of blood on the floor.

"Now that…" he said as he pointed at the shocked out of her mind woman across the table with a Brocken index finger that was the result of him trying to cushion his impact with his left hand. "…was dirty."

When he noticed his out of place finger he grabbed it with his right hand and forced it back with a small grunt of pain and another crack.

"Now…Commander." he looked back at Shepard. "Miranda." he then looked back at the ships second in command. "Let me make this as perfectly clear as possible." they all took a step back while Miranda actually backed into the wall at the bright light consuming Plague's right hand that was now raised towards her with a closed fist. "My "device" is called a pipboy. And it is a part of me. It is connected to me down to the atoms that make my wrist. If I see ANY attempts to remove it, or if your crew try to take it by force…I will defend myself." to make the point, the light died down to reveal the contraception that had atomized on his fist that then lashed out and chomped at the air before his fist with sharp jagged metal teeth.

The sound of metal hitting metal made Miranda jump at the sight of him demonstrating the weapons power.

"Plague, stand down." Shepard ordered when she finally pulled herself together.

With a sigh the weapon re atomized as he gave her a salute.

"Yes Ma,am." he snapped. "Now, about where I will be staying."

Five minutes later.

"I'm telling you. I'm fine." Plague said for what had to have been the sixth time since Shepard and the rest of the ground team forced him down to the sickbay.

"We all saw you cough up blood." Garrus stated as he held onto Plague's shoulder when he tried to get off the bed. "You have broken bones."

Throughout the argument Kasumi was explaining the situation to the female doctor. Shepard was sitting on the next bed while rubbing her temples maybe waiting for a chance to get some kind of painkiller.

Kasumi must have finished explaining since the doctor walked up to the bed Plague was sitting on. "I am Dr. Chakwas. Now I must ask that you remove your armor and let me see the damage. From what I hear, you shouldn't be breathing."

"You would have gotten a checkup anyway." Shepard threw in not looking at them before Plague could object. "It's standard procedure."

Plague wanted to say something but paused at the statement. If he was going to be on the ship then of course they would want to give him a checkup. Might as well get it over with or they would keep yapping.

"Fine." Plague said as his whole outfit glowed and temporarily blinded everyone in the room.

Once the light died Plague was wearing a tight blue shirt and blue form fitting shorts along with his name tags.

**Kasumi Goto POV**

What everyone in the sickbay saw shocked them. Sure there was bruising from the biotic throw, but that was only the tip of the iceberg.

Aside from the bruising there was no major damage. What everyone was focused on was the scars that they could see. What looked like bite marks covered his left arm. One of his legs had scars from what had to have been burns going from his ankle to his knee.

The next thing was the fact that he was dangerously thin. He had a good muscular build and looked athletic, but he was skinny enough that they could make out some ribs under his shirt. There was zero extra body fat shown.

How he didn't kill over was a mystery to Kasumi and the others.

The person who was the most shocked was Dr. Chakwas who the thief assumed was more aware and could see more of the damages then the others.

"Oh my god." Kasumi blurted out.

"By the spirits." Garrus said being the closest to Plague.

"What the hell?" Shepard added.

Then they all saw the missing fingers on his right hand that had some robotic digits that took the two fingers place.

"Everyone out." started the doctor as she walked over to some of her equipment. "I'm going to do a full examination. If you don't need medical treatment, then leave."

Plague POV

The three filed out of the room as Plague let out a sigh.

When they left the door panel went red as the windows went black to stop people in the mess hall from looking in.

"Lay down on the bed over here please." the doctor said as she stood next to the bed with a device hanging over it.

With a shrug Plague got up and walked over to the bed and stopped when he realized what it was.

"Sorry doc." he started to explain as he scratched his head. "You can't scan me."

"Nonsense. Get on the bed." Chakwas ordered.

Before the conversation went any further the computerized voice spoke into the sickbay.

"That would not be a good idea Dr. Chakwas." it started.

'Clever machine must be listening instead of watching.' Plague thought to himself.

"The human classified as the Wildcard is viewed as a danger to the mission if his image is saved into my memory core. Using your own equipment to scan him would be ill advised since I believe doing so would damage your equipment."

After a few seconds of thinking, the doctor shrugged as she let out a sigh.

"Fine. Looks like we will have to do this the old way. Remove your clothing please."

Plague did as the doctor said and removed his shirt and shorts. He was never that much of a shy person. The fact that he knew he was in the room with a medical expert didn't really change that.

"What in the world happened to you?" Dr. Chakwas asked as she started to examine his back and traced a scar.

"More specific please." Plague said over his shoulder.

"Fine." she then touched the circular scar on his right shoulder. "What did this?"

With that contact his mind pieced together the events that transpired.

(It was quit in the DC ruins. The sun was about to set as the sound of an old rotted wooden door was pulled out of the way.

Plague had been trying to salvage some antibiotics from a boarded up pharmacy that he could possibly sell once he returned to Megaton.

"Finally!" Plague shouted as he finally got the door out of the way and walked in.

With his double barrel shotgun in hand he walked into the old dusty pharmacy. Shelves were pushed over, what must have been on the shelves had been taken long ago.

That didn't worry Plague much. Of course the shelved goods would be gone. What he was looking for was the sealed off part of the store where they would stockpile the medication in the back to restock the shelves.

Once he found the door he was looking for he started picking the lock.

Biting his lower lip he slowly pushed the door open. He could barely make out any shapes in the darkness. He activated the light on his pipboy and then let it wash over the room and push the shadows away.

What he saw confused him. He felt a breeze from deeper in the back which meant there was another entrance into the store. The next was the fact that three mats were sat on the floor in a circle. Too organized for super mutants. Next was the small movement in the corner.

He looked and the sight made him tighten the grip on his shotgun.

Three children sat huddled together, all girls. All wearing explosive collars that all were connected to the wall by a chain.

The girls had to have almost been in their teens, maybe twelve years or so. All three of them looked around the same age.

The girl that was farthest into the corner was holding onto the shredded remains of her clothing that had been cut off of her with, what Plague guessed was a knife.

The other girls hugged the third close as if to shield her from the man that stumbled upon them.

He was about to say something to them as he raised his fully fingered right hand to calm them down until he realized something. Three mats to sleep on. Whoever put them here wouldn't give their slaves a conferrable place to feel safe. They needed them scared so that they would follow orders.

Those are the slavers beds.

With that last thought Plague fell forward as something stabbed into his back. He hit the floor as the weapon was pulled out and then stabbed again into his back at the same spot.

If it wasn't for the vest Plague had on he would have been impaled.

When the slaver pulled the weapon out to stab again Plague rolled to the side making his attacker hit the tiled floor. The weapon was a metal pole that's end had been carved and sharpened.

Before the man could pull out again Plague kicked in one of his knee caps making the slaver fall down to his level. He rolled on top of him and wrapped his hands around the man's neck.

Adrenalin was pumping into his veins when he noticed another figure in the darkness. A slaver was running at him and kicked Plague in the face sending him off of his partner.

Plague fell back on the floor wishing he hadn't dropped his shotgun on the floor before. He hadn't re atomized it yet so there was still a chance that it was on the floor with him.

Putting the plan to the side he atomized a 10mm pistol and fired into the second slaver before he could stomp on top of his head.

After five shots he went down and fell next to him. Plague rolled over with a pained groan as he spat out the blood that got to his mouth from his bleeding nose.

Waves of pain went through him as he finally lifted himself to his feet. He walked to the girls in the corner where his shotgun had managed to slide over. He was about to pick the gun up when a heard a moan behind him. Plague left his gun where it fell and walked over to the first slaver with the busted knee cap.

Once the man saw Plague he started shouting for help. 101 heard more movement behind him and just rolled it out to just the girls in the corner and reached down for the pole the man had tried to kill him with not even a minute ago.

"I hear there is this game people used to play before the bombs fell." he said over the man's shouts. "You see…" Plague placed his foot on the man's chest as he stood next to him. "…the point of it was to get this club looking thing…" he looked at the pole in his hands."…and you had to use this club to hit this little ball on the ground as hard as you can." he then lowered the pole so that it was between the man's legs.

Before he could continue he heard his shotgun go off behind him. Looking over his shoulder he saw the shotgun in the hands of one of the girls. Its smoking barrel was aimed at a dead slaver who was sneaking up on Plague with a knife who fell to the floor.

Giving the girl with the shotgun that was too big for her a nod he looked back at the slaver under his foot and put the pole back where it was.

"As I was going to say. I think we can make up for not having the right equipment, don't you think?" he then reeled back. "Now watch my drive!")

"Some asshole tried to impale me with a sharpened flag pole while I was wearing a bulletproof vest." Plague answered with little emotion.

"A bulletproof vest?" Dr. Chakwas blurted out in disbelief. "Why were you wearing such a thing?"

"Let's just say my home isn't as homey as I would like it to be." Plague said over his shoulder to the doctor.

The doctor let out a breath she must have not known she was holding and had Plague sit on a bed so she could examine some of the bullet wounds.

"What did this damage?" she asked while looking at a collection of wounds on Plagues ribs.

Plague pointed to some of them as he spoke starting with the group of small wounds. "9mm machinegun spray." he then pointed to a slightly bigger bullet hole on the right side of his chest. "AK-47. Bastard got me while I was running for cover." he then pointed out a few scrapes and cuts along the rest of his body. "Fragmentation grenade. Was salvaging parts from an old car I found when one was chucked at me. I got out of the blast, but the shrapnel got me. "

With a look of disbelief the doctor signaled Plague to put his shirt and shorts back on.

"What about your arm? Those look like bite marks."

Plague's face saddened as he looked at his left arm.

"Let me just say hunger has a way of twisting people."

"Someone tried to eat you?" Dr. Chakwas asked in shock.

101 let out a small chuckle at that and looked at the Doctor.

"I'm talking about me."

Dr. Chakwas's reaction was reasonable to Plague. Her eyes went wide with alarm while she backed into her own desk making a few things knock over.

"Your…" she started.

"…A recovering cannibal?" Plague finished. "I don't go hunting around for human flesh if that's what you are thinking. Although: I do get ergs sometimes."

Dr. Chakwas seemed to relax a little, but Plague could still see that sense of fear in her eyes.

"Why would you…do something like that in the first place?" she forced out the question.

"Like a said. Hunger has a way of twisting people. No one on the ship will be harmed. I won't go stalking around people while they are asleep. I will only defend myself." Plague reassured.

A silence drifted over the conversation for almost a minute until the doctor finally took a step forward to continue the examination.

"I guess if Shepard trusts you, then I have no choice in the matter." she said as she was looking at his burnt leg. "What did that to your leg?"

At the question Plague's thoughts swirled.

(What he saw was his first time in the DC ruins on his way to the Galaxy News Radio station where he heard his father had traveled. He had run into his first super mutants. He was nailed down while bullets hit his cover.

He was scared out of his mind. He hadn't gotten in many gunfights yet. His hands tightened on the hunting rifle he had taken from a dead raider he passed earlier that day.

Whenever there was a pause in gun fire for the mutants to reload, he did nothing. He was frozen, scared, and hungry. He didn't know what to do. In his mind he wanted to return fire. But his body was working against him. He stayed on the ground behind the car he was using for cover.

He thought he was a goner.

He almost couldn't hear the sound of a rocket on the other side of his cover over the gunfire. The explosion silenced the super mutants gunfire almost instantly hitting what he assumed was most of their numbers.

Slowly he looked over his cover and saw what had saved him. People dressed in power armor he had read about in history from when he grew up in the vault.

They fired into the mutants numbers from across the street.

What fully got his attention was the one not wearing a helmet. A woman with blond hair tied back to stop it from blocking her view. She rained energy weapon fire upon the mutants and to 101 he was called at the time's shock didn't notice the super mutant sneaking up behind her group with a flamer.

For the first time since the firefight started, 101 moved. He made a dash to the power armored groups cover. Bullets sailed past him. Some actually managed to graze him.

Using whatever energy he had he pushed some of the men out of the way to reach the mutant's target.

She saw him coming and started to aim at him while ordering him to stop. He ignored the words and tackled her as a laser shot grazed his arm.

For those few seconds she was light to him even in her power armor. He managed to knock her off the ground and move her as the mutant fired his flamer.

101's left leg was still in the way of the jet of flames.

He screamed out in pain as he and the woman hit the ground next to each other.

The others noticed the mutant instantly when they heard 101 and mowed it down.

101 must have blacked out a few times. First he saw the shocked look on the woman's face as those eyes tried to register what had just happened. Next thing he saw was the group's medic looking at his left leg and pulled out a stimpack and injected it into the center of the burns after he ripped off what remained of his pant leg and removed his boot.

The last thing he saw before he blacked out again was that woman he had saved on instinct looking over him with a look of disbelief towards the stranger who had risked his life to save hers as she shouted orders to her squad.)

"Flame thrower." he said hollowly as he reached for the name tags around his neck.

Dr. Chakwas must have saw sadness in his eyes since she didn't ask any more questions. They didn't talk through the rest of the tests.

Nothing was said until the doctor took a blood sample and looked at it through a microscope.

"You…have never been given the proper injections when you were a child to improve your immunity to foreign bacteria, but you still have a high immunity to diseases." she announced as if she had made a medical breakthrough. "You have a high amount of white blood cells as well. How is this possible?"

"How's what possible?" said Commander Shepard as she walked into the room that was now accessible.

"Commander…his immune system is higher than any human I have on record. If I hadn't seen him for myself I would have thought I was looking at a red krogan blood sample."

"What do you mean?" the Commander asked with not nearly as much shock as the doctor. "Is he healthy enough to be on the ground team?"

"Commander…an immune system like this shouldn't even be possible in a human."

"Is he healthy enough?" Shepard asked again as she crossed her arms.

"Well…yes, Commander. He could easily out run anyone on this ship. Garrus included. I checked his eyes and they react faster than I have even seen a salarian react. But I have some worries."

"Such as?" Shepard asked as she looked at the bored frame that was Plague watching them.

"Starvation." she said making Shepard's eyes widen. "If what he tells me is true, he is…cannibalistic."

"What?" the Commander almost shouted as her looks of worry was replaced by shock.

"Your crew is safe Ma,am." Plague reassured.

"I believe his condition is…somewhat manageable. We just need to make sure he eats more. He should kill over, but he can survive with low amounts of food." Dr. Chakwas informed before anymore words could be said. "He is…if anything a survivor."

"I promise to not eat any snacks that are under you command or otherwise." Plague said. "Unless said snacks are deemed hostile…in that case let's see what happens."

"Right…" the doctor said as she cleaned up her desk area."…You are to eat three meals a day while you are part of this crew. If I hear you have not been doing so then I will have no choice but to ground you from being part of the ground team. Doctors' orders."

Taking this as the end of the checkup, Plague atomized his 101 jumpsuit in front of them and gave a salute.

"Will do Ma'am. After all food was one of the things I wanted as payment to begin with. Now about where I will set up?"

**Quite a lot of words. This chapter is the biggest so far. I will try to make all chapters as long as possible. **

**I thought this chapter could show how Plague's interaction with each crew member could vary depending on how they talk to him. Fun times are ahead.**

**Anyway. The first weapon Plague atomized in the meeting. Internet cake to first reviewer to tell me what it's called.**

**See you all next time.**


	8. Chapter 8 Crash Course

**The winner for the question last chapter was GIRLIKESTACOS.**

**it was the Bear Trap fist from the From the Sierra Madre DLC **

**Hey guys. wow another quick chapter. hope you all like it.**

**Chapter 8 Crash Course**

**The Wildcard**

**Part 8**

"So Commander." Joker started as he looked over his shoulder. "Hear we have a real nutcase downstairs? And I'm not just saying nutcase downstairs for a laugh."

Shepard rubbed her temples as she stood behind the pilot's seat. She was wearing her black caption's jacket and pants.

They had recruited Plague earlier that day. Word had spread fast around the ship. Especially when Miranda had lost her cool.

"Understatement of the year, joker." she answered.

She didn't quite know that much about him, but what she did however earned the new member of the ground teams to be watched. She didn't know much about his cannibalistic side and hoped that it was only do to a harsh environment. He seemed alright around the crew so far, so she just had to cross her fingers and request every member of the crew to report anything strange since said member can't be seen on camera.

Thankfully she hadn't heard anything yet.

Finding a place for him to set up was difficult though. She wanted him to not be too close to the crew of the ship incase his true nature was hostile.

Remembering her deal, she put him in storage where they kept their extra resources down on Deck 4: Engineering.

Plague POV

"Damnit!" the wastelander shouted in his new dwelling.

He had been working on some repairs to one of his power armor sets. Long ago he found a way to use specific parts of the suits without having to wear the whole set. But he had to admit that even though the armors were bulky, they served their purpose.

He only changed sets when necessary. He could wear one of the armors gauntlets and improve his grip, he could wear the full arm and receive its strength. So why wear the whole thing.

He only wore the whole thing depending on the conditions. An explosion, an imminent impact, a need for more brute strength.

At the moment Plague's pipboy was empty. All of his weapons lining or hanging on the walls of the small storage room given to him. Four large two foot high ammo cases in the middle to act as a table. His armors set up in a nice and organized display, standing side by side in a row of four.

Many parts needed to be readjusted. At the moment he was working on an arm of his Tesla armor. It was slightly more unique then his other sets. It had black armor, red eyes on the helmet, the power coils on the shoulders would ark with raw red power when active. It was mostly good for defending against energy weapon damage. With the thing's looks he renamed it the "Scare the fuck out of everyone" set.

He gave a slight chuckle when he remembered the first time he used it at night and scared a raider enough that he actually shitted himself.

As he was laughing he almost didn't notice the door to his room open

Taylor Shepard POV

"What's the joke…" Shepard started and then was cut off by how full the room was. "…Where the hell did all this come from?"

"Don't worry Ma'am. There won't be any clutter. I carry everything with me when I leave the room." Plague said as he stopped laughing at his inside joke.

"did you have all this in your pipboy?" she asked as she started walking through the storage room turned armory.

"Yes Ma'am." Plague answered as he got off of his bunk, with what Shepard thought was a robot arm.

She watched in silence as 101 attached the arm to a creepy looking black and red suit of armor.

As she looked through the room she noted all of the weapons at her latest member's disposal.

All of the shelves were full. Large melee weapons leaned against the wall, from a simple wooden baseball bat to a rather large sword made from an old car bumper.

"My God, I recruited a mad man." she voiced in a joking tone.

That disserved a chuckle from Plague as he picked up a golf club of all things.

"Keep in mind it's not the gun in the boy's hand that makes him the man. Even without my arsenal, I could come out of a death match and come back for more." he said as he did a few practice swings on the other side of the room.

Shepard kept that in mind as she looked through the organized rows of weapons.

"How much can your pipboy carry anyway?" she asked as she picked up a large knife connected to a gas tank by a hose.

"Whenever I atomize an item, it doesn't just disappear." he started to explain as he switched the club for a machete. "It's mass is added to my own. You may not see it, but I gain it's weight."

That made Shepard look at him as she put the knife down.

"How is that possible?" the former Spectre asked with wide eyes.

The idea of such technology was impossible. Sure she had heard of atom research and such from science fiction movies, but to have that technology right in front of her was shocking.

"Well…how to explain this?" Plague asked himself as he gave the weapon in his hand a few test swings. "When I atomize an object, it's matter is stored within my pipboy. The mass however is added to mine. As long as I can carry the items that are atomized, I am not fatigued." to make his point he bounces a little with his fists in the air like a boxer. Then he quickly makes a few quick jabs. "But I can get slowed down. I just can't feel it, and it can't crush Me." he looks around the room and atomizes a sludge hammer among his weapons. "Now, I only have one item weighing me down." he then goes back to his boxing stance, as Shepard notices his bounces and jabs are a little slower, but still quite fast. "I can get slowed down to the point that you won't be able to see me move. Don't worry though; I always make sure I can carry my workload by wearing some parts of power armor."

"Is that what those are?" Shepard asked, pointing to the robotic like armors.

As she looked over she noticed one of the sets were much smaller and had Plague's helmet. The rest of the suit looked like it was made of rubber and form fitting and quite compact.

"Correct. Those are my babies. Used to have five though. Had to activate it's self-destruct. I'm going to miss that piece of slag." he said with no emotion. "Anyway, I'm guessing you wanted to talk about something? Can't be many other people down here besides the engineers around."

"Actually there is a mercenary in the next room, and a krogan across from his." she corrected.

She smirked as she watched the man's eyebrow raise.

"Really now? He isn't much trouble is he?" Plague asked.

Shepard thought the question was understandable. She had watched him kill what she guessed was his first krogan on that video feed.

"He's a little hard headed, but he won't just attack you without a reason. That is unless you got in his way. His names Grunt. The mercenary is Zaeed Massani." she informed. "The reason I came down here was to see how you are setting up." she then took another glance around the room. "I'm guessing you are doing well?"

"I think I am doing 'well' so far. It's nice having a place to drop my supplies. Feels like the weight of the world has been lifted. Thanks for asking Ma'am." he then did another bounce.

"Good to hear. Will you be ready when I call you for the ground team?" she asked as she started looking at his weapons again.

"Always Ma'am." then the full suit connected to his helmet atomized and then appeared on him. With an altered voice he spoke. "Though, I am curries as to how you will use my skills."

That made a question appear in Shepard's head. How would she use him? She had seen him demolish a krogan, and also had to chase him through Omega's market district. He had taken a direct hit by Miranda, and is still walking around. Other then all that, she didn't know anything about him. She looked around the room at all the weapons around her.

"I should have asked this earlier…but where could I put you?"

Having known someone who usually wears a full body suit, she noticed Plague's slight body movement that showed he was just as surprised as her.

"I…I hadn't thought of that Ma'am." after a pause he picked up an old model sniper rifle with some beautiful designs engraved on it, and then disappeared. "I guess I could play many roles on the battlefield. This armor is my stealth set." he then reappeared next to Shepard earning him a slightly alarmed look from said woman. "It has a built in cloaking device, allowing me to move around the field unnoticed, while at the same time flexible. It can adjust itself to the wearer's form. The suit could fit almost any human frame. Thus both male and female genders could where it. Maybe even an asari, although I haven't experimented with the idea."

"So, with that armor you are an infiltrator class?" she waited for him to nod his answer before asking her next question. "Are you effective with a sniper rifle?"

In response he raised the rifle so he could aim at the wall on the other side of the small room.

"This is my modified reservist's rifle. With it I can shoot down a target from more then a mile away depending on the wind conditions. Each magazine carries five .308 caliber rounds that are each capable of piercing armor and shields." he then lowered the weapon and looked at her. "Yes Ma'am, I am "effective" with said sniper rifle." he answered as if the question was a small insult towards his abilities.

'Garrus, now him. Two snipers so far.' Shepard thought to herself.

The man was practically an N7 Infiltration team.

Plague then looked at a heavier looking armor set and then atomized it onto his person. Once the armor was on him Shepard took a step back.

Plague had become almost a foot taller with a mask that had what looked like an old gasmask filter and two eyes and a small scope above it. The shoulder guards seamed to stick out more. The torso was a little angular around the chest.

"This is my prototype medic power armor. It has a built in computer system, and can directly treat wounds on the wearer." 101 explained. "with this suit a can treat almost any injuries that either I, or a member of the ground team could receive during a mission. And like my other power armors, it can boost my strength."

With a little shock Shepard asked her next question. "So you can heal others? Don't you need some medical training?"

In response the armor wearer chuckled.

"I don't do anything. The suit does. When I want it to operate on a patient, I tell it what I want it to do and it goes on autopilot."

"Sounds more like a mech to me. Can it work without you having to pilot it?" the Commander asked.

"There has to be someone inside, yes. Although, I should get the systems upgraded so that it can treat none human patients. Dam thing was built with only humans in mind." Plague informed as he checked part of his arm.

A smile appeared on Shepard's face at the thought of a sniper and medic rolled into one. It was as if someone fused Mordin and Garrus. The thought almost made her laugh.

"I have made the medic set able to use medi gel, but for the worst case scenario of an extreme emergency, I should do some research. Although in some cases if time is an issue, I can directly give the medic armor to the injured human member for treatment. Human for obvious reasons."

The idea made Shepard nod a little in thought. If what Plague said was true, then almost any member on her team could become a field medic on the fly.

"You should speak with Mordin Solus up in the tech lab. He could help you with the research." she offered. "He's our scientist."

After a short pause, Plague nodded at the idea. "Will do Ma'am."

She was looking to the last sets of armor as Plague changed back to his jumpsuit with a flash of light.

"What about that one?" Shepard asked as she pointed to a slightly more bulky armor with more shielding.

A smile worked its way onto 101's face when he looked at the armor in question.

"That Ma'am is the T-51b power armor, and it is fitted with a back-mounted TX-28 MicroFusion Pack which generates an output power of 60,000 Watts to power the HiFlo hydraulic systems built into the frame of the suit. It's made of a poly-laminate composite; the outer shell is lightweight and capable of absorbing over 2500 Joules of kinetic impact. The 10-micron-thick silver ablative coating can reflect laser and other radiation emissions without damage to the composite subsurface, and the eye slits for the helmet are made of bullet proof glass to protect the wearer from any projectiles" he answered as if reading a textbook. "All in all it is the heaviest of my sets. You can call it my heavy set. I usefully wear it's left arm along with the medic power armor's right gauntlet." he then got a playful smile as he touched the top of a strange and large weapon on the wall next to it. "I like to add some nice mini-gun action with that set, maybe a flamethrower."

He then stood before the black and red set of armor and knocked on the helmet.

"This is a Tesla power armor. It was designed to amplify an energy weapon's output. Since I sadly don't use, nor am I any good with energy weapons, I have modified it to create an electronic shield sphere around the wearer." he then paused as he looked at her and then shook his head.

"What?" the Commander asked in response to her quick and unexpected examination.

"Just had an idea." he started as he rubbed the back of his head. "Like I said, it's meant to amplify an energy weapon's output. So the idea of a biotic wearing it popped into my head."

Shepard was taken aback at that.

"W…what? You mean I could get a biotic boost from it?" she asked at the concept of wearing such powerful armor.

101 then crossed his arms and tilted his head in thought.

"Well if you want I could teach you how to use power armor. You can't just put it on and expect to be the strongest being around. If you are not prepared, you could injure yourself severely. And I mean severe. Once I saw a man's arm bend back on its own and snap the bones of the arm into pieces. The reason I brought up putting the medic armor on someone other than myself, was because it would be on autopilot." he warned.

"How long would the process take?" she asked as she thought about such a thing happening to her.

Plague then tilted his head back and looked like he was doing some calculations.

"It took me almost a week, so maybe three hours of lessons a day. I would have to be wearing another set and keep close watch on you in case you lose control." once he finished speaking, his medic and infiltrator sets reappeared where they had been against the wall. "I'll give you some time to think about it. But if you are all for it, let me know Ma'am."

As he walked back to his bunk Shepard looked around the room and noticed a power armor helmet hanging on the wall.

It had yellow eyes, a dome like forehead, a unique mask, and two black hoses in the lower back along with two hornlike things.

"What about that?" she asked as she took it off the wall to test its weight.

Plague instantly got off his bunk with an extremely agitated look on his face, as he stormed towards her. She took a step back as he snatched it from her hands and held the helmet in a death grip.

"That…is my quarry." he almost shouted as the helmet was slammed on a shelf with a lot more force than necessary. "Enclave filth."

"I didn't mean to upset you." Shepard said with an apologetic look on her face. "What's an Enclave?"

"Like I said." he started as he calmed down. "Filth."

101 then walked back to his bunk and sat down. "Don't worry, you didn't offend me. The damage was done long ago."

Plague POV the next day.

Plague slowly opened his eyelids in response to his pipboy's alarm clock.

He looked at the piece of vault tech with a feeling of distaste. The wastelander's awakening mind groggily searched for the password to shut it up. As he sat up on his bunk he scratched his head.

"Shut the fuck up!" he almost yelled and was surprised when the thing went quiet. "I have a strange sense of humor."

The previous night was spent cleaning the tools of his trade.

The room was filled with light as all of his weapons and armor atomized while he walked to the door. The only thing left in his room was the bunk he had slept on, and the metal shelves.

After he had cleaned up in the ships restroom on deck 3, he was welcomed by the smell of cooking food. Following the smell, he found himself in the ships mess hall.

Some of the crew sat at a table, along with Garrus.

Not one to skip a chance for free food, Plague grabbed a tray and walked to the older man behind the counter who was serving the meals. The man seemed to be almost completely bold, along with brown eyes that gave Plague a questioning look.

"You must be the new guy?" he started as he reached over the counter to shake hands. "I'm Mess Sergeant Rupert Gardner. You can just call me Gardner."

"Plague." 101 introduced himself as he shook the hand presented to him. "Mess Sergeant?"

"I'm the ship's cook, and custodian." the man answered with a sense of pride that Plague would have thought laughable if he hadn't just woken up.

"So…the janitor…cooks our meals?" Plague asked.

"Custodian." Gardner reminded Plague. "But if you don't want any food…"

"As long as you properly wash your hands between duties, I'll live. You're talking to a man who has eaten cooked mutated insects." Plague said earning a raised eyebrow.

"Well…alright then." Gardner said as he scooped some powdered eggs, some pieces of bacon, biscuit and dark grayish gravy along with a piece of buttered toast onto Plague's tray. "Enjoy."

Giving the cook a quick nod, Plague walked over to an empty seat away from the rest of the crew.

As he sat down, Plague noticed some glances from those on the other side of the table. He saw an array of questioning, intrigued, and wary looks from both men and women.

Shrugging he picked up a piece of bacon and chomped down on the cooked pork. As he ate he noticed some movement next to him and was surprised to see Garrus setting his tray down as he sat in the next seat.

"So…what's the story?" the turian asked as he scooped some kind of green eyeball like thing into his mouth that smelled like rancid meat.

"Let me answer that with another question. What the hell is that?" Plague threw back, not caring what the first question was.

The turian looked at his tray and stabbed another eyeball to eat with his fork.

"It's Sclent. A delicacy back on Palaven." he answered as he ate another scoop.

"Eyeballs."

"It's a vegetable." he defended.

That just raised even more questions, but Plague put them all aside as he scooped some eggs into his mouth. He was surprised that the food actually tasted alright.

(Understandable considering the average wastelander's diet of cooked mutant animals and vegetation.)

After some more scoops Garrus nudged his shoulder and pointed to some of the crew on the other side of the table.

Some of them had a defeated look on their face and handed some credits to the few with a look of triumph.

"You just helped some people win a few bets." Garrus said as he fought a chuckle.

"How?" Plague asked honestly confused.

With a raised "eyebrow" the turian answered. "Gardner's cooking's terrible I hear."

That statement received a look of disagreement.

"It's the best I've had in a while actually. I was going to go up for seconds."

(Some of the crew in the mess hall could hear Gardner silently shout in victory, as he pumped his fist in the air when he barely heard the compliment.)

"Anyway. Back to my question?" Garrus then pointed to Plague's two robotic fingers on his right hand.

After the few seconds it took for Plague to chew and swallow, he answered with no emotion and a straight face. "Never give a sliding door the finger."

**Taylor Shepard POV**

"Really?" Shepard asked as she looked at the skin tight seemingly half rubber half latex suit in Plague's hands. "I'm not wearing that."

Shepard and Plague were in the hanger bay of the Normandy. She accepted Plague's offer to teach her how to use power armor, but she didn't expect to have to wear the garment presented to her.

Plague was in his medic set in case something happened during the lesson.

"I highly recommend you wear it." Plague insisted as he tossed it to her. "The suit helps you control the armor. It will tell your armor your status, and keep track of your health." Plague lectured. "Also, it will tell your suit to deactivate if something goes wrong. Think of it as a safety harness. I always wear one under my clothing."

Rolling her eyes, she grabbed the garment and walked off into the next room. "Fine, I'll be back."

A few minutes later she went back into the hanger. As she walked up to Plague, she caught a glimpse of Kasumi standing next to him. They had been having a conversation about Plagues power armor until they both noticed her walking to them.

"Wow Shepard…Just…wow" Kasumi said as she looked Shepard up and down.

The suit was skintight and fitted itself to all of the curves of her body. She also looked like she had on latex gloves along with stockings. To put it on she had to stretch the opening at the head and put it on like you would a glove as Plague had instructed her earlier. Once it was on, the opening shrunk down around her lower neck. All in all, it had no zipper and could give anyone who saw her a good idea of how she looked without it.

That thought made her face completely red as she moved her arms in a way that could cover some of her shame.

"I swear Kasumi, if a find a holo of this anywhere…"

"No need for one. Photographic memory." Plague said earning him a glare as he chuckled. "Anyway, come sit over here." he said as he pointed to a small crate.

Not breaking her glare, she walked over and sat down. She thought of throwing him around the room with her biotics, but decided against it since he was wearing his armor.

She was surprised to be blinded by a bright light as the Tesla power armor appeared on the floor before her.

"First lesson." Plague started. "How to put it on."

Half an hour went by as Plague picked up each piece of the armor and explained it's parts and how to put it on. They started with the torso and then went to the legs and arms starting from the forearms and thighs, and then the rest of the limbs.

Next was the shoulders with the power coils. Each separated into two parts that closed around the shoulder of the wearer.

"How are you doing so far?" Kasumi asked as she watched in anticipation. "Looks really…toasty in there."

She hadn't noticed as she put the parts on, but the black garment under the armor seemed to be keeping a cool temperature around her. It felt kind of refreshing in a way.

"Happy I made you wear it now?" Plague asked, seeming to be able to read her mind.

She was barely able to lift her hands when she picked up the helmet which was the last piece of the set. After a few failed attempts to lift it over her head, Plague grabbed it and helped place it where it had to go, making her vision turn a shade of red.

"To put it on you have to get used to the weight." 101 told her. "Can you hear me in there?"

"I hear you." she almost had to shout in the inactivated suit.

"Good. Second lesson. I am going to make the suit move. I want you to get familiar with the feeling of its movements and relax. Understand Ma'am?"

"Understood." Shepard answered.

"Remember. Relax." he said as he leaned in to talk into the suit's hearing receptors. "Tesla armor activation code Alpha and Omega."

Instantly the displays in the suit lit up as she heard a few clicks and humming around her head.

"TESLA POWER ARMOR UNIT 425 ONLINE." said an automated male voice that took both women by surprise. "AWAITING CAMAND."

"What was that?" Shepard almost shouted and was surprised that her voice was broadcasted outside of the suit.

"that is the Tesla armor's CPU." Plague answered. "It's not as good as my medic set's computer, but it can still help you operate the armor. If you want, you could change the voice later. Now, activate power armor tutorial, level 1."

In response, and to Shepard's surprise, the suit moved and made her stand up.

She felt a little dizzy at having realized she was now almost a foot and a half taller. Remembering Plague's instructions, she relaxed her muscles and let the suit take control.

"Tesla armor, walk around the perimeter." Plague ordered as the armor started walking.

Shepard felt the powerful movements of the suit as it followed the hanger walls. The movements felt fluid and precise. She could feel the impact of the suits boots on the metal floor. Her sense of hearing was sharper. She could feel the black garment move around her, and adjust its temperature depending on where she needed it to adjust.

As the suit walked, she scanned to display before her. She could see the armor's power output along with it's shields integrity. It also showed a small image of her suit that was filled in with a lime green which she assumed meant good.

"How are you doing in there?" Kasumi asked as she walked beside her.

She tried to turn her head, but found the suit was still in full control.

"Fine Kasumi." she answered. "This feels weird though."

"I bet it does." she said back in a cheerful voice. "What's it feel like?"

"I can only feel the suit's movements." she started to explain. "And the…garment…is constantly changing temperature. It's like a second skin."

"Tesla armor." Plague shouted from across the hanger. "End tutorial. Return to final destination."

Like a trained soldier, the suit turned and marched back to Plague and then sat back down exactly where it was before the tutorial, and sat down.

"Power down."

Shepard felt the pieces become heavier as they seemed to go dement.

Suddenly, Shepard was engulfed in a bright light as the suit atomized leaving her in the black garment.

Realizing this she covered herself almost instantly.

"Are you trying to get a good view of me?" she shouted earning a laugh from both Plague and Kasumi.

"Sorry Ma'am." he started to apologies. "I wanted to save you some time. "Although I really should have warned you beforehand."

"You should have!" she shouted as she marched off to change.

"Ma'am, I recommend you wear the nerve suit under your own clothing to help you get used to it." he shouted behind her making her stop dead in her tracks.

"You've got to be kidding me."

**What will happen now that Plague is teaching Shepard how to use the Tesla armor? Is Gardner's food any good? Is sclent really a vegetable or is Garrus just hiding his appetite for eyes? all these questions and more will be answered next time...ok ...maybe not that last one...**

**next quiz. **

**What is the name of the Golf Club in New Vegas?**


	9. Chapter 9 Plague returns to Purgatory

**Hello. Last chapter's question was a trick one. There are two golf clubs in Fallout New Vegas. So there are two winners.**

**Douglas14141 was the first to say Nephi's Golf Driver**

**And chippermovie was the first to say the 9 iron.**

**All throw some internet cake out to the few of you who said both for your dedication.**

**Anyway this has to be the longest chapter so far. I hope you guys like it.**

**The Wildcard**

**Part 9**

Sparks sprayed across the room 101 had been given. He had spent much of his time making upgrades, or calibrating his weapons. (Don't worry. He's not as obsessed over calibrating as the turian we all know.)

As he worked, he would take glances at a schematic displayed on his Omni tool. Ever since he moved into the space that was his room, he would constantly find bugs hidden everywhere. Getting rid of a few bugs didn't bother Plague that much. What did however, was the fact that whenever he left the room, they would seemingly with magic, reappear in different places.

In the time he had been on the Normandy, he had a rather large collection. Before he accepted Shepard's invitation, he had heard some things about this Cerberus. Not all of it good. But life in a nuclear wasteland had taught how to tell if someone wanted to kill you, and take your stuff. Cerberus was by far, almost as irritating as the Enclave. Shepard however, as far as Plague could tell, didn't have the same agenda. Along the way they must have hit some kind of impasse.

Cerberus wanted to make a future for humanity, give humanity a place on the proverbial throne of the galaxy. Would be a good goal, if it wasn't for the fact that they were all mostly xenophobic towards aliens.

Having worked for Aria, and Omega being the shit hole it was, gave him in a way, an ear to the ground. He had heard rumors about the sick things done by Cerberus to not just experiments on aliens, but human experimentation as well. All in an attempt to push humanity to perfection.

The word put a bad taste in his mouth. The act of pushing something towards perfection would imply that such a being wouldn't be able to adapt, evolve, or improve.

It also reminded him of how super mutants would drag survivors away to be mutated into their fold.

The only reason he could guess as to why Shepard was working with such a group, was to save lives. But with Cerberus it was because it had only been "human" colonists getting dragged off.

Can't "evolve, and ensure power for humanity" if said humans aren't around.

His technical knowledge towards surveillance devices, was not as sharp as his engineering. To find out where the bugs were going to, he had to do a little reading. The schematic he was reading, was of a similar surveillance device to the one Plague had dismantled on his workbench.

His research so far told him that, said bug was built to broadcast to someone nearby. That much was obvious. He was inside of a Cerberus ship.

What he wanted to know was, who?

When he found out who the culprit was, he smirked.

'Off to deck 3.' he thought to himself as he left his room to go to the elevator.

"Isn't that a nasty head wound."

Plague let out a sigh as he looked to his side where the statement came from.

The man was a lot older then Plague, but he could tell the man was more then capable of holding his own in a gunfight. He was a little taller then 101, was bolding a bit. One dark colored eye and a blue fake one.

Plague recognized the oddly familiar damage caused by a gunshot through the man's right eye.

"Could say the same to you, friend." Plague said back, as he examined the soldier's armor scheme.

A large right shoulder plate, black and yellow shoulders, shins and leg guards. All topped off with a white and orange chest plate. The armor looked affective, and had the damage to prove it had been in quite a few battles.

"Well, it did look worse." the old man said with a hint of anger. "Names Zaeed Massani."

"Plague. Hope you got the bastard." 101 said as he continued walking to the elevator that would take him off of deck 4.

"Not yet." he answered as he followed to the elevator. "What about you?"

The question caused 101 to pause in mid step.

(The Courier awoke with his head pounding. That confused him. He had been delivering a small package that he had to get to the Vegas strip.

When he tried to rub the back of his head to sooth the pain, he realized they had been tied in front of him. He felt the rope cut into his wrists as he franticly tried to pull them apart.

To add to his panic, he also realized there was a dusty sack over his head and a gag around his mouth.

Suddenly the sack was pulled off of his head letting his view be illuminated by the full moon above.

"You got what you were after." a voice said nearby. "So pay up."

'What?…what was I after?' Plague asked himself, still a little dazed.

"Your crying in the rain, pally." a second voice said as 101 groggily looked away from his hands.

The moon was full up in the night sky. Three men stood before him. Two of them were clearly Khans. One held a shovel while the other was talking to the third man between them. The man in the middle didn't belong with the two.

He wore a checkered yellow and black suit along with equally yellow pants.

"Guess who's waking up over here." the Kahn with the shovel said when he and 101 made brief eye contact.

The man in the suit looked over and let out a breath of smoke from his cigarette. He then stomped it out as he faced the tied man in front of him.

"Time to cash out." the suit announced as he took a step foreword.

"Will you get it over with?" the Khan who was the first voice said with some impatience.

The suit lifted a finger to get the man to stop talking.

"Maybe Khans kill people without looking them in the face, but I an't a 'Think'. Dig?" he said as he then looked at the man on his knees.

Then the checkered suit wearer reached into his jacket and pulled out a casino chip of all things.

"You've made your last delivery, kid."

101 didn't know why the item was relevant until he realized it's size. The small package?

'I was delivering a Fucking chip?' he almost shouted when he realized how much of his time had been wasted, and why he was held captive. 'For a Fucking CHIP?' the throbbing of his head seemed to intensify with the injected rage.

"Sorry you got twisted up in this scene." he apologized as he put the chip back in his jacket. Plague's eyes widened when a pistol took its place. "From where you're kneeling, it must seem like an 18 caret run of bad luck." the gun was then aimed towards Plague, who was franticly trying to fight against the ropes.

'Not like this!' the words were muffled by the gag. 'I won't die like this!'

He looked at his hands, and was shocked to see his pipboy damaged. The screen smashed in. One of the few things he had. The tech had saved his life many times, and had been with him since the beginning, but now like it's owner, it was a victim of fate.

"Truth is…" with Plague's acute eyesight, he could see down the barrel of the gun aimed at him. To his horror, he also noticed a few dog tags dangling from the fingers of the man's left hand. "…the game was rigged from the start."

Next thing Plague knew, he was blinded by the flash of the gunshot.)

Plague snapped out of his trance when a gloved hand patted him on the shoulder.

"That looks familiar." the mercenary commented. "Not a day goes by that I don't think about it."

"Let me give you some advice then." Plague started, making Zaeed raise an eyebrow. "No matter what you do, you 'never' forget. You will live with your choices throughout your life."

"And you're the expert?" the mercenary asked with some anger coating the question.

"I…" Plague looked at the man as they both stepped in the elevator. "…ripped the man apart with my bare hands, and threw his Rotting corpse around his own casino in front of his security, and the casino's gamblers. So I think I know what I'm talking about."

That just made the mercenary laugh as he hit the button for deck 3.

"Now that's a happy ending." he said with an entertained smile. "How the hell did you make it? I know I shouldn't be asking that since I should know the answer myself, but that looks like a clean headshot through the brain."

The mercenary's smile grew a little more at Plague's next few words. "Rage is one hell of a anesthetic."

Miranda Lawson POV

Miranda sat at her desk with a confused expression as she watched her screen. For some reason it wouldn't turn on. She had restarted the terminal, and upon seeing that the coarse of action didn't work, she called for a mechanic to take a look at it.

She looked up when she heard her door open to let in…no one.

After a few seconds, the door closed leaving her even more confused. She got out of her chair and walked over to the door, and looked outside her office.

Nothing was out of the ordinary. Some of the crew were eating, while Gardner was manning his post behind his little counter.

She saw Kasumi walk up to the cook, and start up a conversation as Garrus walked into the mess hall on his way to wherever he was heading.

Once she believed everything was normal, she went back into her office.

'Someone must have set off the door by mistake.' Mrs. Lawson concluded as she went around her desk.

As she reached the other side of her workstation, she jumped as she felt someone push in her chair for her as she sat down.

She quickly got out of the chair and turned to find the Wildcard smirking at her.

He was wearing that old 101 jumpsuit, as he walked over to her couch and sat down.

"W…what are you doing in here?" she almost shouted as she remembered what happened the last time she saw him. "How did you get in?"

Her eyes widened as she realized why her door seemingly opened on its own. He had snuck in while using his cloak. But for what reason, she had no idea.

"I didn't want to bother Shepard." he started with a mildly entertained tone. "You see, I would like to file a complaint."

"How so?" Miranda asked with narrowed eyes.

"Well, I seem to be having a rather large, and recurring 'bug' problem."

The statement made her almost take a step back. The man had found all of her surveillance devices again. She had ordered for them to be hidden better, but now it seemed that he had found out who had been spying on him.

"You see…" he started as he stood up. "…I swat all of them, but I must have missed the queen 'Bug' since I keep finding out that they had multiplied." his eyes narrowed in on her as she readied herself to send him a biotic shockwave. "You wouldn't happen to know where this 'Queen' could be hiding? Would you?"

"I believe you are mistaken." Miranda answered, as the man took another step towards her.

"Oh? Then please explain why the signals go straight to you terminal!" he said in a harsh voice as he slammed a hand on her desk. "How I know this, you ask? Because I have heard the recorded audio on your terminal myself."

Miranda looked right at her terminal as she realized who had sabotaged it.

"Y…ou. How did you…" she was cut off as a five pound bag was dropped on her desk.

"If I find any more of your toys in my quarters, I will come back and put them to good use..." his eyes gained a more playful look as he finished. "…by showing the crew how you look in your more 'privet and personal' hours. Let me just say…no man on this ship will look at you the same way again. Can you still work on this ship, knowing that everyone around you will know what you look like under that little outfit of yours?" Miranda was frozen in place, while a look of both shock and disgust appeared at the thought. "After that, if you still manage to build up the courage to continue this little game of ours…I have a contact back on Omega who can make sure that your audience will grow." ignoring the look on Miranda's face, Plague started walking out of the room. "Have a good day Ms. Lawson. I'm happy we had this little…chat."

**Taylor Shepard POV**

"We are docking with Purgatory now, Commander." Joker announced to Shepard, who stood behind his chair.

On the way to the prison ship, she had been thinking about who to bring with her.

"Call up Kasumi, Grunt, and Plague." she ordered as she walked to the airlock.

Kasumi was a good choice, since she's skilled with security systems. You never know what could happen. She picked Grunt for a more intimidating factor. In a prison, you don't mess with the biggest guy around. Plague however was on the team for multiple reasons.

She hadn't seen him in action, and at the moment, she also didn't know how he would react in a situation. 101 was well armed, and with his pipboy, could sneak in and if necessary, supply extra gear if the situation called for it.

She had on her inferno armor as she waited for the rest of her team. The first two to arrive was Kasumi and Plague. They both must have been on deck 3 when they were called up.

"Ma'am" Plague said with a sharp salute. "What's the mission, and how do you need me?"

"Purgatory is a prison." she started, and paused as Grunt entered the airlock. "We are here to recruit a convict named Jack. I do not expect any gunfights, but I want you to take the medic role since Grunt will be our heavy. Grunt won't need much medical care."

"Shepard." Grunt started as he and Plague noticed each other. "Who's the human?" he asked as he leaned forward and sniffed Plague. "Smells like…battery acid, and decay."

"And you smell like a large toad." Plague shot back with a small look of annoyance. "What's your point?"

"You smell like old spilled blood. It's faint, but I can smell it." Grunt growled.

"Enough!" Shepard ordered. "Grunt, he's part of the ground team. Deal with it!"

"So…" Plague said after a small pause. "Medic set?"

As she nodded, Plague re atomized his medic armor taking Grunt by surprise.

The new medic looked at the krogan, who he was now the same size as.

"You're not the only big dog here, buddy." 101 stated as a weapon set appeared on his person.

An army knife on his hip, and a new medi gel dispenser built into his right shoulder that wasn't there last time she saw the set two days ago. A service rifle slung over his back, held there by a magnetic plate.

"Ready Ma'am."

"Did Mordin help you with that research?" Shepard asked once the shock subsided.

"Not yet, Ma'am." Plague answered back a little glumly. "Was actually about to go meet him when you called."

"Right." Shepard replied as she crossed her arms. "Grunt, that means Plague here could only treat you with medi gel. Don't do anything suicidal."

After a quiet growl, the krogan answered. "I'll try, Shepard."

"Wait." started Kasumi. "Where did you get a medi gel dispenser?"

Once the question left the thief's lips, Shepard gave Plague a cold glare.

"Found it." Plague answered with a calm voice. "Deck 3…sickbay."

**Plague POV**

They finally started walking through the airlock when Plague promised to return the ship's property after the mission. As they stepped through the airlock and onto Purgatory, Plague couldn't help but feel uneasy. He didn't know if it was the name, which was understandable do to where he had spent a lot of his time before he showed up on Omega, or the lack of color.

They walked past a viewport that could have given them a good view of the Normandy, if they happened to forget what it looked like.

As they approached the first group of guards, 101 noticed many glances towards himself. Clearly they haven't seen a power armor before, and he could tell that made them a little nervous.

Plague was actually a little surprised. He didn't know the place was run by Blue Suns.

"Welcome to the Purgatory, Shepard." a turian guard said to 101's Commander. "Your package is being prepped and you can claim it shortly."

The wording the turian used, instantly put Plague in a sour mood.

"Sounds like a God dam slaver to me." Plague whispered to Kasumi next to him as he lowered the volume of his suit's speakers.

The thief gave him a quick glance with a look that showed she fully agreed.

"As this is a high security vessel, you'll need to relinquish your weapons before we proceed."

That instantly made Plague feel even more on edge.

"I can't do that" Shepard refused.

"I second that motion." plague added. "Feel free to try and get them though. Could use a few laughs." Shepard then looked over her shoulder and gave him a disapproving look. "Shutting my trap, Ma'am."

"Everyone stand down." another turian in blue armor ordered as he entered the room. "Commander, I'm Worden Kuril, and this is my ship"

The turian in question looked a bit shady to Plague. He couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. Reminded him of the raiders, and slavers he had put down in his past life.

"Your weapons will be returned on your way out." he persisted. "You must realize this is standard…"

"The lady said no, if you didn't hear her correctly." Plague interrupted, drawing the warden's gaze.

"What a strange mech you have with you."

"Asshat…" Plague said under his breath.

"It's my standard procedure to keep my gun." Shepard threw in, making the turian look away from 101.

The warden seemed to make eye contact with Shepard, and Plague could almost feel the tension in the room.

"Let them proceed. Our facility is more than secure enough to handle three armed guests." the warden ordered.

'Three?'

"And a defected mech."

"Fuck you to buddy." Plague almost shouted before Shepard gave him another look.

Not hearing what Plague said, the turian lead them into the facility.

As they walked, Plague instantly felt bored as the warden yapped on.

"Bla, bla, bla. Control over population." Plague mocked as he turned his speakers off. "Bla, bla, bla, bla. My ass acts as a modular unit. Bla, bla, bla. I've blown a few of the bla, bla, bla, as an example. Bla, bla, bla. Once a day I give "special" services in 30 cellblocks identical to this one. Bla, bla, bla."

He noticed that Kasumi was snickering a little to his right, which lead him to believe she was close enough to hear him, even without his speakers on.

"We can put the whole place in lockdown on a moment's notice." the target of Plague's twisted humor said as he faced them. "Nothing goes wrong here."

"Unless we run out of lube." Plague added, taking Kasumi by surprise. "In that case, we are royally fucked!"

The thief almost couldn't keep her composure.

"Can you tell me about Jack?" Shepard asked, taking Plague and Kasumi out of their silent laughing spell.

"Cerberus hasn't told you?" the turian asked. "Jacks the meanest handful of violence and hate I've ever encountered." Plague noticed a flicker of fear appear in the warden's eyes for a split second. "Dangerous, crazy, and very powerful. You'll see soon enough."

"How did you end up running this ship?" Shepard asked, making Plague mentally groan as if she had asked for another lecture on astrophysics.

"I was in law enforcement on Palaven, and got sick of seeing criminals escape out into the galaxy to carry on with their crimes." Kuril explained as he looked out into a courtyard. "Bounty hunters aren't dependable."

"Again, fuck you." Plague mumbled, as he remembered a time when he had collected bounties for the NCR.

"Eventually I hit upon an idea." he continued. "Keep the criminals in space and the galaxy is a safer place."

"You do this because you think it's necessary?" Shepard asked.

Plague couldn't really see the point in asking such a question. But in the end, he rolled it out to be why he wasn't the Commander.

"Every day I see the worst sapient life has to offer." he complained. "Governments are soft, unwilling to make the hard choices. Someone had to stand up and make the galaxy safe."

"Maintaining a population this size in space can't be cheap." Shepard speculated.

"We can cut corners that governments can't. And each prisoner brings in a fee from his homeworld. These individuals are violent, and their home planet's pay well to keep them here."

That last sentence got Plague's attention.

"What happens if the homeworld doesn't want to pay?" Shepard asked, letting Plague be able to grasp at what the questioning was all about.

Plague started to grind his teeth as he grasped the hilt of the knife on his hip.

"We explain that we can't maintain the prisoner without their help, so we'll be forced to release him back onto his homeworld. At an unspecified place and time."

'People die because they couldn't write his paychecks?' Plague shouted in his head as he started to pull the knife out of its sheath.

As he was pulling out the blade, he felt a small amount of weight hold his hand. With a look of confusion on his face that went unnoticed to everyone, Plague looked to his right to find Kasumi holding his hand while she gave him a pleading look.

"Not a good idea." she whispered to him.

Once the grip on his knife loosened, she let go of his hand.

"Extortion." Plague called out, with a cold voice.

"You don't have to agree with my methods, but don't question my motives." he shot back. "These are despicable people and I am keeping them locked up."

"Unless you feel a little underpaid." Plague added with some rage coating the words.

That statement made the warden give Plague a glare that showed how much the comment irritated him. And that's exactly what Plague wanted to see.

"Let's get on with this." Shepard said to lower the hostility.

"Have there been escape attempts?" Kasumi asked as they started walking.

"We're in space - they have nowhere to go, and they know it."

"Unless they get control of one of your transports." Plague corrected. "That is what a spaceship is for, last time I checked."

"But still, we exercise extreme caution." Kuril stated, ignoring what Plague had said. "These are dangerous individuals."

As they looked through the window to the courtyard, they noticed a blue biotic shield generator activate and separate two prisoners who were about to start a fight.

"We have many ways to control the population." he then opened a door for them before he started talking again. "I'm going to confirm that the funds from Cerberus cleared. Out-processing is straight down this hallway. Just keep going past the interrogation rooms and the supermax wing." as he started walking back the way the group came, Plague noticed him give Shepard a strong glare. "I'll catch up with you later…Shepard."

"Jackass." Plague said right as the door closed behind the object of his irritation.

Ignoring the undeniable truth, Shepard lead on down the hallway.

"Now that's a waste of time." Plague commented as he noticed a guard beating an inmate. "if you want a confession, or information, you are supposed to remove the limbs. And even then, they only confess to whatever you're telling them they did to stop the torment."

"They're a bunch of sick freaks, in my opinion. Torturing someone is sick." Kasumi said, as if the statement was meant for Plague to hear.

"Where I'm from, one can't worry about what is sick." he replied. "You want to know how to get through a minefield set up to kill traders? You find the man who hid them. Need to talk to someone, who has just recently been caught by slavers, and sold to someone? Find the supplier. Torturing is disgusting, yes I fully agree. When I do it however, it's for survival."

What Plague said, made the thief turn here head away from him. She was clearly not happy with what she heard.

"Hold up, Boss." Plague called out, followed by a sigh.

Ignoring the questioning look given to him by his Comander, Plague walked over to the guard outside of the cell.

"Any worthwhile, information?" Plague asked the turian guard. He seemed to jump once he noticed the giant next to him. "He must know something valuable, right?"

"T…this is a massage, compared to what he has done to people." the guard said back, with a shaky voice.

"If that's your only reason, then wouldn't your friend need to take a rest so he could move on to the next cell?" Plague asked, shocking the guard. "And then the next cell? And the next? And the next? How about the next? There's a reason it's called a "Life Time Sentence."" he then leaned in, towards the turian. "Do you have that much free time?" (Perk: Scoundrel)

As he turned away, he could hear the guard tell his coworker to stop.

"I'm back." Plague said to his group. "Let us proceed."

As they walked, he noticed Kasumi taking quick glances at him, and then look at the ground.

"Something wrong, Mrs. Goto?" 101 asked her quietly.

"You…didn't have to do that." she stated, as she looked at the ground.

"Yes, I did." the power armored man said back.

"Why?" she asked, shocked at what he said.

"Your right." he stated. "Torturing is sick. No matter the reason."

"I…" Kasumi started as she looked at him. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier."

"Don't be. I have done things I am not proud of." he then looked over to her. "And that face is too beautiful to refuse."

The last statement instantly made the thief freeze in her tracks. After she realized she was falling behind, she quickly caught up.

Eventfully, the ground team made it to the supermax wing. To Plague, it just looked like a large room, with tables and chairs everywhere, in rows.

"Out-processing is through the door on the far side of the room." a man informed them, as he worked on a terminal.

As they walked through the room, Plague found the lack of activity, disturbing. He was going to put that aside, until the door opened to reveal an empty cell.

Letting his instincts kick in, Plague pulled out his service rifle and turned on his heel to aim at the door. The man who had been there was long gone, as he saw the red lock on the only exit.

"My apologies, Shepard. You're more valuable as a prisoner then a customer." Kuril said over the intercom. "Drop your weapons and proceed into this open cell. You will not be harmed."

"You talked up your noble intentions with this prison." Shepard started as she followed Plague's lead by drawing her shotgun. "But it turns out you're a criminal like the rest."

"I'm going to enjoy painting the walls the same color as you're blood." Plague almost shouted as he also pulled out his knife, supporting the service rival with one hand like one would a pistol.

From behind him, he could almost hear Grunt laugh a little at the statement.

"Activate systems!" the warden shouted over the intercom.

Almost immediately after that, the door opened.

"Grab some cover!" Shepard shouted, as she and Plague hid behind a desk.

Kasumi followed suit, and was now on Plague's right. Grunt was a little slower to find cover. He roared a little, as he fired away at the first few blue suns that entered the room.

Still holding his weapon with one hand, Plague aimed and fired three rounds. Each round making a blue sun fall to the ground.

"Not bad, human." Grunt shouted over the gunfire.

"That's nothing. Watch this." Plague shouted as he chucked his knife into a man's head from accros the room.

"Impressive…" Grunt was cut off as Plague grabbed the desk in front of him.

"What are you doing?" Kasumi asked as she fired a few rounds.

She got her answer when the desk started to rip out of the metal floor. The sound of twisting metal filled the air making the suns hesitate. (Perk: Strong Back)

Then without warning, Plague charged across the room, with the connected row of desks scratching the floor.

Taylor Shepard POV

Shepard watched with her mouth hanging open at the sight of her cover moving away from her.

The biotic was about to ask Kasumi next to her, if she was seeing the same thing, until she noticed the large armored mass dragging it. She quickly reacted, and ordered a just as stunned Kasumi to follow behind the moving cover.

They both ran up behind Plague, and started shooting over the desks. Once they were close to the group, she did a mass biotic lift, sending the next wave of Blue Suns into the air.

"Get down!" Plague shouted over his shoulder.

As they ducked, Plague threw the row of desks at the floating Suns. The sound of cracking bones, and screams of pain filled the room. Once it went silent, Shepard looked up to see men crushed under the mass of metal she had just been behind.

Her shock only lasted for a few seconds, until FENRIS mechs ran into the room.

She aimed her shotgun at the closest one as she took cover next to Kasumi behind another row of desks. Before she fired, she noticed how the mechs seemed to ignore 101 as she fired.

She was about to aim at the next one about to run past Plague, but at the last second, it received a metal boot to the side that almost went all the way through its body. Chunks of metal flew as the mech was sent into the air, to then collide into the wall. She looked back to see Plague already gunning down another merc as he held the weapon with both hands. (Perk: Robotics Expert)

She saw his shields shimmer with an unusual shade of dark red when the next wave fired at him. Shepard expected his kinetic barrier to go out instantly, but it held as he returned fire.

As he was shooting back, he held the gun with one hand as he reached on the ground to his side, and grabbed the mech she had shot with her shotgun. In one quick motion, the mech's destroyed remains flew into the hallway, knocking the wave to the ground in the narrow space.

Seeing an opening, she ran to the side of the door, and sent a shockwave towards the mercs. Their bodies flew around, hitting the walls of the hallway.

"Nice one boss." Plague complimented as he took cover on the opposite side of the door.

"Grunt, concussive shot!" she ordered to the krogan behind them.

Grunt let out a blast of his shotgun as he charged into the hallway. Not long after, a small explosion was heard.

"Reinforce out-processing! Shepard is loose!" she heard the warden order on the intercom.

"No shit! Really?" she heard Plague shout as he kicked another mech like a football player, sending it through the hall.

"We need to find Jack." Kasumi reminded her, as she moved up.

"Right. Grunt, take point. Plague, support him." Shepard ordered.

"Right, Boss." Plague then turned to the krogan. "You can save yourself, and Shepard some credits by limiting your heatsinks. I recommend a two second delay between shots."

"Support with your gun." Kasumi groaned.

The body movement Plague was using, tolled Shepard Plague was laughing at his little joke.

"Kidding." he said over his shoulder.

"Strange human." Grunt commented as he moved forward.

They reached the next door after both Grunt, and Plague stormed through another wave of Blue Suns.

**Plague POV**

Right as the door opened, Plague was instantly getting shot at by a technician with a hand cannon.

He started to advance as his shields absorbed the damage, until he realized something.

"Crap. Did someone grab my knife?" he asked over his shoulder to his stunned team.

"You're getting shot at, and you are asking if we have your knife?" Shepard shouted as she tried to aim around him to shoot at the technician.

He let out a sigh as a machete re atomized in his right hand. The next second, he threw it and impaled the man on the glass behind him.

"Now that…" Plague started with a fake Australian accent. "…is a knife."

Plague walked up to the impaled man, and pulled the weapon out, letting him slide down the glass.

The rest of the team walked up next to him as they saw, what Plague guessed, was a cryo cell guarded by three YMIR mechs.

"Looks like this opens it." Kasumi said as she pointed to the small terminal.

"I'm doing it. Be ready." Shepard informed as she started pushing buttons on the orange display.

In response, a robotic arm started to open the cryo cell. There was a hiss as the cell was raised. When the mist cleared, Plague and the others saw a woman covered mostly in cold frost. Plague saw that she wore brown pants and, once Plague did a double take, what appeared to be belt straps covering parts of her breasts. (It's Plague we are talking about here. Of course he would notice them.) The rest was covered in oddly designed tattoos.

Her face looked familiar to him somehow, but he couldn't find out why.

She was restrained by clamps around her wrists and neck.

"Jack's small." Grunt commented.

"Small and dangerous." Plague added.

Once she woke up, she instantly started to panic when she felt her restraints. She managed to force her hands free, and then pulled open the neck restraint.

"And when something small and dangerous is cornered…that's when you should watch yourself." Plague added to his statement.

When it opened, she fell foreword and grabbed part of her cryo cell for support, as she shook her head. Her hand rested on her head as she seemed to try and make sense of her situation.

Once she saw the mechs around her, Plague saw Jack go from confusion, and straight to full battle alert.

Her biotics flared as she launched herself at the center mech. She let out a battle cry as she punched the mech with a strong biotic punch. The ground team felt the explosion below them.

"We need to get down there!" Shepard said as she lead Plague and the others.

Once they reached the floor, Plague whistled when he saw the damage. All three mechs were devastated, pieces everywhere.

They fallowed the path of destruction through a hole blown in the wall that led to a hallway used by technicians. Lights flashed red as more explosions rocked the ship.

"She's having the time of her life." 101 said with a little humor in his voice.

"All guards: restore order! Lethal force authorized! But don't kill Jack!" the warden ordered over the coms. "Techs: Lockdown! Lockdown!"

'At least we don't have to worry about Jack getting hurt.' Plague thought to himself.

As they ran through the hall, sparks sprayed out of the walls. Wires were ripped out and dangling from where they had been originally.

A computerized voice started informing people of the ships status. Sectors had lost air support; prisoners and guards were dying or already killed.

They found themselves in the courtyard they had been able to look down on earlier. Red lights shined on the chaos below. Guards were in gunfights with the convicts, who had taken weapons from the dead guards around the area.

Once the two groups saw the ground team, they fired upon them, and their original enemies.

"Return fire!" Shepard shouted as she sent out a shockwave that killed a few guards, and some inmates.

Plague charged with Grunt at his side. Both of them fired like crazy into the masses unlucky enough to get in their way.

Kasumi stayed near Shepard to give some support with some machinegun pistol fire.

As they advanced, Plague noticed a metal object flying towards him and Grunt.

Without warning, Plague tackled Grunt to the ground as the rocket flew over them, and crashed into the wall.

The krogan gave Plague a nod as he got back to his feet. They found the source of the rocket on the other side of the courtyard. A YMIR mech was aiming at them.

"Plague, cover fire!" Shepard ordered as she threw another shockwave. "Kasumi, overload!"

Following orders, Plague opened fire on the machine as he advanced. With a machine, he didn't have to worry about getting shot. But that ment he had to assist to defend the rest of his team.

Sparks sprayed as Kasumi unleashed an overload. As that happened, Plague charged.

He kept aiming at that camera shaped head in an attempt to blind it. As the mech went down from the damage, it fired one last rocket that flew into a railing.

The shrapnel sprayed everywhere when the rocket exploded. Plague was about to advance when he heard Shepard's next words.

"Kasumi's down!"

Plague turned and saw Shepard dragging Kasumi to cover, as Grunt gave covering fire.

101 activated his suit's systems as he ran up to the group.

'No. No. NO.' Plague shouted in his head.

"Cover Plague!" his Commander shouted when she saw him.

The suit took control, and kneeled down as medical implements started coming out of parts of its arms.

Plague was shocked when he saw her. A piece of the rail had flown and stabbed Kasumi in the shoulder. Her black and white suit was starting to turn red as the thief's blood started to dye it. As she fell, she must have hit her head since she was out cold.

'Damit!' Plague shouted to himself.

The suit started treating the wound. It made sure to keep it clean as the piece of rail was removed.

'I should have been more carful!'

He didn't hear the gunshots, nor did he feel the few rounds that managed to hit his armor. He didn't know why he felt like he did. 101 had seen far more devastating wounds then what was before him. As his suit operated on the battlefield, he couldn't stop looking at her face.

When a round hit the ground next to Kasumi's head, Plague took control of his right hand to shoot at a convict. It was too dangerous to patch her up here.

"Shepard, requesting to transfer the Medic set to Kasumi for medical treatment!" he shouted over the gunfire.

"Do it!" Shepard answered.

Right as she said that, Plague and Kasumi were engulfed in a bright light. Once it died down, Kasumi was now in the Medic set while Plague went back to his normal suit combination with his duster over the stealth suit, his left arm armored, power armor leggings, and his stealth suit helmet.

"Activate VIP program!" he shouted into the medic power armor's receptors. "Follow me, and defend current wearer!"

"YES SIR!" the suit replied in a military soldier like voice.

The suit raised its arm with Kasumi inside, as Plague took it and pulled it up to its feet. 101 handed the machine his service rifle, and re atomized his Reservist's sniper rifle.

"Commander, ready to move out!" he shouted to Shepard, as she bioticly lifted a convict.

"Alright! Grunt, take point." she shouted as she sent a shockwave towards where they needed to go.

Grunt charged behind the shockwave, and started shooting those who got in his way. The medic suit carrying Kasumi, followed right behind the krogan, once Plague marked him as friendly. Plague was third while Shepard sent shockwaves back behind them to slow down whoever might be following.

They had made it to the second courtyard, when a computer anounced the place was going to blow.

"SPECULATION: SHIT HAS HIT THE FAN, SIR." the suit stated, causing Shepard to look back at its use of words. "RECOMMEND ABANDINING SHIP. SEARCHING FOR LIFEBOATS."

Plague rolled his eyes as he looked at the armor between shots.

"This is not a fucking watercraft!" Plague informed as he shot another guard.

"ERROR. PLEASE SPECIFY."

"It's a space…It's an aircraft. We are heading to another ship to evacuate!" he shouted in irritation. "Follow your orders! Protect the VIP!"

"YES SIR!"

'When I get back on the ship, I'm going to have to tell all my armor's, this isn't the wasteland.'

**Tayler Shepard POV**

Shepard was momentarily frozen when she heard the conversation. She had seen mercs, and those in the Alliance who gave orders to mechs. But the way Plauge talked to it was as if it was more than just a program.

'Is that an AI?'

She snapped out of it as her shields shimmered from a sniper shot aimed at her head.

She found the culprit on a walkway above them, and switched to her pistol, and aimed at a container next to the turian's cover.

**Plague POV**

'That looked like it hurt.' Plague said to himself as a turian Blue Sun was thrown by an explosion.

They moved to different cover whenever there was an opining.

The ground team made it to the next room, and ran for cover when sniper fire rained down on them.

"You're valuable, Shepard. I could've sold you and lived like a king." Plague heard the warden say on the other side of the room.

He took a quick look over the crate he was using for cover, and saw the turian standing on a platform while his men were shooting at convicts and the ground team.

"But you're too much trouble. At least I can recapture Jack." he said as he aimed at Shepard's cover.

"Not happening! You're a two-bit slave trader and I don't have time for it." Separd yelled from behind cover.

Blue tech shields appeared on the warden, as Plague saw some anger building in the turian's eyes.

"I do the hard things civil governments are unwilling to! This is for the good of the galaxy!"

"Bullshit!" Plague called out as he cloaked. "You are NOTHING!" no one saw Plague.

The guards had finished off the convicts in the room and were all aiming at the fire team's cover, unaware that the team was missing one member.

"Pathetic!" Plague's voice shouted as a man was hit in the head, snapping his neck.

"Find him!" the warden ordered as he surveyed the area around the dead merc.

"I am tired of this place!" 101 shouted as a man's neck was sliced and sprayed his blood all over the unsuspecting merc next to him. "I am tired of that alarm," a turian's neck snapped. "I am tired of seeing Blue Suns," the sound of a revving up chainsaw filled the room.

Kuril activated the barriers around his position in panic.

"I am tired of you…" Plague whispered to the side of the warden's head.

Kuril's eyes opened in alarm as his weapon was ripped out of his hands. The warden was trapped inside of his own barrier with an enemy he couldn't see. The rifle was thrown to the side as a strong hand wrapped itself around his neck.

"My life has been filled with irritations. Insects." he whispered as he heard Shepard and her team deal with guards who were confused, and didn't know why their leader was not giving them orders.

"You talk about making the galaxy a better place. I have seen no improvements." the warden let out a sharp gasp as something jagged entered his stomach. "Say goodbye to the galaxy, Mr. Kuril."

The turian's blue blood sprayed as the chainsaw turned on while inside of his stomach. Plague was covered in blood as he ripped the ripper out and stabbed it back in. once he was sure the turian was dead, he grabbed his Reservist's rifle off his back to help get rid of the other mercs.

He activated the dead warden's Omni tool and deactivated his shields so that he could join the fray.

**Kasumi Goto POV**

The thief cracked open her eyes and watched as she walked behind Shepard's group.

She was confused when she realized her limbs were moving on their own.

She was dizy as she looked in front of her. Kasumi didn't know what was going on, but she saw herself aim one of Plague's old guns and fire a few rounds into some Blue Suns.

Her eyelids became heavy, as her vision turned black.

**Jack POV**

Jack had just killed two Blue Suns and looked out of the viewport. She saw only one ship. She would have to take it. Her attitude changed drastically when she saw the symbol on the ship's hull.

"Cerberus." she spat out as if the name was a bad taste in her mouth.

'Didn't they do enough to me the first time around?' she shouted in her head as she started to throw a tantrum of rage.

After all they had done to her, they dared to return. She hit the air as she paced.

"I got it!" a man shouted as he launched himself past her, along with a bright flash.

Jack's biotics flared as she turned around to see the man who had ran past her. What she saw was a man on top of a dead merc.

At least she thought it was a man. He had a mask similar to the few quarians she had seen in her life. He had on a blue stained duster jacket. His left arm was covered in some kind of armor, while his right hand was at the mercs head.

On the man's hand was a strange contraption with teeth that had ripped apart the mercs helmet and face.

As she looked at the blue blood covered figure, she could only think of three words.

"What the fuck?"

**Plague POV**

The bear trap fist's last chomp bit into the mercs throat, and with that, Plague ripped out his jugular.

"Now that was messy." Plague commented as red blood sprayed on him, mixing with the blue.

He stood and turned around to see Jack looking at him with a look of confusion on her face. He gave her a nod as he casually walked past her.

"Mrs. Jack." he greeted as he walked back to his team to check on Kasumi's status.

The medic power armor stated to inform him of Kasumi's condition as Shepard started talking to Jack.

"What the hell do you want?" Jack asked, with her confusion starting to get replaced with anger.

"You're in a bad situation, and I'm going to get you out of here." Shepard answered.

"Shit, you sound like a pussy." Jack said back as she paced back and forth, ready to defend herself. "I'm not going anywhere with you. You're Cerberus."

"She's not, but the crew is." Plague said over his shoulder.

"I'm not fucking talking to you." Jack said. "What the fuck are you anyway? Some Cerberus freak experiment?"

"Hey." Plague replied sounding a little hurt, as he turned to her. "Cerberus? Hell no. Freak…" Plague seemed to be a little mixed up as he signaled 50%50 with one of his hands.

"I'm here to ask for your help." Shepard said to continue the conversation.

"You show up in a Cerberus frigate to take me away somewhere. You think I'm stupid?" Jack said back with some anger in her eyes.

"This ship is going up in flames. We can take you to safety, and we're asking for your help." Shepard explained with some impatience.

"We can knock her out and then take her." Grunt offered.

"Is chivalry dead now, or are all krogan like you?" Plague said to Grunt, with mock curiosity.

"I'd like to see you try." Jack said, not hearing what had been said by Plague.

"We're not going to attack her." his Commander informed her team.

"Good move." Jack tolled Shepard. "Look, you want me to come with you, make it worth my while."

"We have a bar." Plague offered, thinking Kasumi would have wanted to say something there.

"Join my team and I'll do what I can for you." Shepard said, ignoring what Plague had said.

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Jack said quickly. "I bet you're ships got lots of Cerberus databases. I want to look at those files. See what Cerberus has on me. You want me on your team, let me go through those databases."

"I'll give you full access." the Commander promised.

"You better be straight up with me." Jack warned.

"Fine, but…to tell you the truth, I haven't found that bar yet." Plague admitted with some disappointment.

The convict rolled her eyes as she looked away from him. "So why the hell are we standing here?" Jack asked after Shepard nodded.

**I kind of like this chapter a little. Not only is it Plague's first time on the ground team, but Miranda gets put in her place again. It's always a good day when someone spoiled is thrown around a little.**

**This time the question is, where do you get the Prototype Medic Power Armor in Fallout 3? Remember, be specific. **


	10. Chapter 10 Kick in the Head

**The question was where you get the Prototype Medic Power Armor. I wanted you all to be as specific as possible. **

**2nd place goes to Bloodyredshade**

**1st place goes to cestus41**

**Props**

**Now where were we? Oh ya, Jack is here now. Enjoy the chapter guys.**

**The Wildcard**

**Part 10**

Kasumi opened her eyes and was welcomed by a blinding light. As she closed her eyes she felt a dull throbbing in the back of her head.

The thief struggled to remember what had happened.

The prison, awakening Jack, the mechs.

She remembered that conversation her and Plague had. And how she felt a little flustered when he said she looked beautiful. The thought quickly made her cheeks feel warm.

'I shouldn't be thinking like this.' she thought to herself.

What would Keiji think? Would she be betraying him? Just thinking about it made her heart ach. She can't just let go of him.

She moved the thought to the side as she forced her eyes open again. The shapes in the room slowly started to become less blurry.

"Hello?" she said weakly as she slowly pulled herself up to a sitting position.

She was in the Normandy's sickbay. Her outfit was gone and replaced with one of the blue medical garments the sickbay had stored.

"Mrs. Goto." EDI greeted over the intercom. "Mrs. Chakwas is currently having dinner in the mess hall. Would you like my to call her?"

"No EDI…Can I ask you a question though?" Kasumi asked the AI.

"What would you like to know Mrs. Goto?"

"What…happened?" she asked the holographic blue ball on the other side of the room.

"You got injured on Purgatory. A stray rocket was fired from a YMIR mech, and shrapnel from the explosion embedded itself in your right shoulder." the AI explained. "The force made you fall and hit your head on the floor. You suffered from a mild concussion on impact.

Kasumi pulled at the blue shirt she was wearing to look at her injury. To her surprise, there was no damage. Only a small scar that was barely noticeable.

"How long was I out?" she asked, worried that she had been out for days.

"You were dropped off in the sickbay 12hours 23minutes and 47seconds ago, Ms. Goto."

"What?" she asked, shocked that she had been out for such a short amount of time.

"You were dropped off in sick…" EDI started to repeat until Kasumi interrupted.

"No. I mean, how am I fully healed in that amount of time?" Kasumi asked followed by a short silence.

"The Wildcard gave you his medic armor, and escorted you back to the ship, along with Commander Taylor Shepard, Grunt, and newly recruited, Jack."

"Plague saved me?" she asked no one in particular.

"The Wildcard's medic suit treated your wounds while you were inside." EDI started to answer, taking what the thief said as an actual question. "By the time you entered the sickbay, your wounds had been already healed. The drugs and medicines used are unknown."

"Thanks…EDI." she thanked as a shocking question popped up in her head. "Where are my clothes?"

"When the medic suit was removed by the Wildcard, you were not wearing anything." EDI answered to an embarrassed and blushing thief. "5seconds later the Wildcard handed your clothing, and the weapons you had on your person to Dr. Chakwas. No blood was found on the clothing. Only a hole where the shrapnel had punctured your suit."

"Who was in the room?" Kasumi asked, only worrying about who had seen her undressed while she was out.

"Before the suit was removed, the Wildcard asked Dr. Chakwas to cover the windows while he forced Mess Sergeant Gardner, who was in the sickbay to get a cut from a steak knife treated, out of the room. I was unable to see the Wildcard, but I speculate he was aware of the fact you would be without your cloths. When Mess Sergeant Gardner questioned him, the Wildcard simply stated 'The unworthy shouldn't look upon perfection'. The only ones present while the suit was removed, were Commander Taylor Shepard, and Dr. Chakwas."

That made the thief give a sigh of relief. Sure she wasn't ashamed of her body, but the thought of the Normandy's crew seeing her would have been too much.

She moved her fingers through her short raven black hair as she fought the blush that had intensified at the compliment given to her by Plague.

"Are you alright Ms. Goto? My sensors indicate a rise in your body heat, along with a faster heart rate."

"I…I'm fine EDI." Kasumi stuttered as she lay back onto the bed. "Just a little flustered, I guess."

**Plague POV**

"What the fuck is this shit!" Plague shouted to his Omni tool.

He had spent three hours looking for a good music station. All he found however was a wide selection of techno music, and some other alien crap.

"This is just sad." he mumbled as he sat on the ammo cases lined up against each other in his room.

His room was decorated with his weaponry. Weapons on the shelves, melee weapons leaning against the walls, power armors lined up side by side in a display.

He wore his now clean duster jacket over his 101 jumpsuit.

"What is wrong with you people?" he shouted to no one. "Wouldn't know good music if it bit you on the ass!" his Omni tool beeped when the search results for "ass" popped up at the end of his sentence. "No, I don't want to look at some sweet asari ass…did that just come out of my mouth?" he asked himself in shock, as if he felt that he should get his mouth washed out with soap.

He turned off the Omni tool and walked to the workbench next to his bed.

"So bored!" he moaned as he slumped into the chair in front of the workbench.

At least when he was working for Aria, there was almost always something to do. Even if there weren't, he could get some drinks at Afterlife. On the Normandy he had to wait to be chosen by Shepard to be on the ground team.

There had been only one mission since he showed up.

He was thinking about going up to deck 3 for some food, until a beep on his door told him someone was knocking.

"It's open." mumbled.

The door opened and he heard a slight gasp as some soft footsteps stopped in the doorway.

"Hello…that's a lot of weapons." a female voice mumbled.

Once hearing the voice he spun around in his chair, to come face to face with Kasumi Goto. She had on a blue cotton shirt, and pants.

This was the first time he had seen her without her hood. He saw her short black hair. He was also able to finally see her bright brown eyes.

"Ms. Goto." he greeted with a smile on his pale face. "This is unexpected…" he stammered as he gave her a quick bow. "Should you be walking around?"

"I'm fine. I just realized I didn't really get to know you. So I came down her." she explained as she walked over to the power armors. "This is your stealth suit, right?" she asked as she pointed to the suit in question."

"Your right." Plague answered as he watched from his chair.

"I…haven't seen anything like it before." she said as she felt the arm. "What is it made out of? It has a nice design, but it doesn't look that comfortable."

"It's made of the same material the nerve suit is made of. It changes shape to fit the wearer. Once it's on, it feels like a second skin. You might even forget your wearing it."

"That's kind of odd. Sounds like the perfect thief's attire." she commented, followed by a nervous laugh.

"It doesn't look like much, but it has saved my life many times." he informed as he got out of his chair.

He walked next to Kasumi, and took the helmet off of the suit and handed it to the thief.

"Try it on." Plague offered.

He didn't know why he was letting her try on his gear, but he didn't want to seam rude to Kasumi. Something about her presence calmed him.

"Are you sure?" Kasumi asked with a shocked look.

After he nodded, the thief slowly lowered the helmet onto her head. Once it was at the right spot, the materiel of the helmet started to fit itself around the back of her neck.

He smirked when Kasumi pulled it off as it gave off a quiet his.

"What was that?" she asked quickly.

To answer her question, he pointed to the suit.

Her mouth hung open when she saw the suit change shape. Its chest changed while it gained a more feminine appearance.

"Now the suit could fit you." Plague explained. "Like I said before, it changes shape to fit the wearer."

"Wow…" she started until she seemed to realize something. "You didn't just get me to do that so you could admire my looks like some kind of pervert, did you?"

"Flattering, but no." he defended. "I have more respect for women than that."

"Sure you do." she said sarcastically as she handed the helmet back. "Well, I should get back to sickbay." she announced as she walked to the door.

"Alright." Plague said with a little disappointment in his voice. "Feel free to visit again."

"I will…" Kasumi replied as she stopped at the door. "…and Plague…"

Plague looked up from his stealth suit's helmet to give Kasumi a smile.

"Yes, Ms. Goto?"

"…Thank you." she said as the door closed behind her.

Not expecting the thanks, Plague looked back at his helmet.

"…no problem…Ms. Goto."

**Taylor Shepard POV**

"Joker, plot a course for the Citadel." Shepard ordered as she stood on her platform, looking over the galaxy map.

"Sure thing, Commander. How's Kasumi doing? I didn't get to ask what happened when you all came on board."

"She is fine, Joker." Shepard answered as she started walking to the tech lab.

When the doors opened, she was greeted by Mordin, who stayed at his workstation.

"Commander. Was about to call you." the salarian said quickly. "Wanted to talk to you about Plague. A sudden appearance or outbreak of something unpleasant in very large numbers or with unusual frequency. Usually results in many deaths. "Sniff" Strange name."

The Commander walked over to Mordin with her arms crossed, and a look of concentration on her face.

"What's wrong? He didn't do anything, did he?" she asked with a little worry.

"No. I asked Mrs. Chakwas for his blood sample, after I met him in the mess hall. He's unique. Rapid eye movement, tense when he hears something out of the ordinary, advanced handmade robotic fingers, pulley systems connected directly to the nerve endings. "Sniff" genius by human standards."

"You get anything from his blood sample?" Shepard asked as she rubbed her temples.

"Yes, Commander." he answered quickly. "His immune systems have been constantly tested throughout long periods of time. Poisons, irradiated food and water, direct contact with low doses of radiation. Slight mutations." before Shepard could ask, he answered. "No negative side effects. Simply adaptations. Possibly could be passed on genetically to the next generation of humans, and maybe even asari."

"Anything that could help us find out where he is from?" Shepard asked as she leaned against the wall, across from the scientist.

"Unclear. Radiated blood sample. A good guess would be the krogan homeworld Tuchanka, or any other world that has contact with radiation. The adaptations had been passed on to Plague genetically by mother, and father. Shows that the radiation had been present for a few generations before them."

Letting out a sigh, Shepard asked her next question. "You said poisons?"

"Yes. Multiple sources. Mutated insect stings, manmade poisons using radiated vegetation, food poisoning. Such, doesn't affect him the way it would a normal human. "Sniff" Fascinating. I agree with Dr. Chakwas. Blood sample is similar to a krogan's immune system. Obviously, they both are drastically different from each other, but the sample shows that if he was dropped on the krogan homeworld, he would thrive."

"What about dextro-amino acids?" Shepard asked curiously as she walked over to Modin.

"Like I said before, strong immune system. Could ingest dextro-amino without risk of allergic reaction. My however give cramps. Ending results show he might actually adapt to the acids. After a few months of ingestion, he might not have any negative side effects. Think I could ask him to help in my research? Such a find would be a medical breakthrough." the salarian seemed to be getting a little excited at the idea.

"That's all up to him." Shepard answered as she rolled her eyes. "If he accepts though, please wait until after the mission. Don't want him collapsing on the battlefield because you took too many blood samples."

"Yes, Commander. I will keep that in mind."

**Plague POV**

"Honestly, what would have happened if someone got injured?" Dr. Chakwas lectured to Plague as he worked to reattach the medi gel dispenser to the wall in the sickbay.

"Sorry, Ma'am." Plague droned as he tightened the last bolt. "Won't happen again. Next time I'll ask."

"Next time, you won't take my medi gel dispenser." she almost shouted. "Find another way to carry your medi gel."

"Yes, Ma'am." he replied as he glanced over to Kasumi who was sitting on one of the sickbay beds, smiling in his direction.

He returned a small smile as he walked out of the room.

"There he is." Garrus announced as he intercepted Plague on his way to the elevator. "Wanted to talk to you."

"What do you need Garrus?" Plague asked as he scratched the back of his head.

"I talked to Grunt earlier. Usually we barely see each other, but I bumped into him in the elevator." the turian explained. "He said you have on old sniper rifle you used on the last mission. I was hoping I could take a look at it. Maybe set up a shooting range in the hanger."

"Um…Fine I guess." Plague answered with a little unease.

With an eager nod, Garrus lead Plague to the elevator.

Once they got to the hanger, they started looking for a place to set up.

"So who taught you how to shoot?" Garrus shouted the question as he set up some empty tin cans on the other side of the hanger.

"My father gave me a BB gun when I was 10. After he showed me the basics, I kind of taught myself." Plague shouted back as he examined the viper sniper rifle Garrus had brought down with him. "Trial and error mostly. You?"

"I'm a turian." Garrus shouted back as he walked away to admire his handiwork. "I used to work for C-Sec. Before that I was trained at 15. Most turians are."

Once he decided that the cans were at the right angle, he started running back.

"Alright. You want to go first?"

Plague shrugged as he re atomized his Reservist sniper rifle. "Sure, why not."

Plague went down into a kneeling position as he looked through the scope.

**Garrus Vakarian POV**

Garrus looked at the rifle with wide eyes. He had seen some old human firearms from some western movies he had watched on some rare occasions. The rifle Plague was using, along with the designs engraved in the barrel and stock made the weapon look like a work of art in his opinion.

"This is my Reservist's rifle." Plague started to announce as he adjusted the scope. "Fires .308 caliber rounds across a little more than a mile. My weapon of choice at long range."

"It's a remarkable weapon." Garrus complimented as he grabbed his viper sniper rifle.

Sensing the human was about to fire, Garrus looked through his scope to the tin cans.

A loud bang bounced off the hanger's hull as Garrus smelled gunpowder in the air.

The can he had been looking at, practically exploded as the round passed through it.

"Nice shot." Garrus said as he went into a kneeling position next to Plague.

He looked through his scope, and aimed at the next can. The former C-Sec slowed down his breathing as he pulled the trigger.

The results were to be expected. The can was hit, but it didn't have as much damage as the one Plague had shot. Simply just a hole in the front and a hole in the back. A clean shot.

They continued taking turns shooting back and forth until Garrus's curiosity got the better of him.

"Mind if I try it out?" he asked as he gestured to Plague's weapon.

After a short pause, Plague released the casing from his last round and handed it to him.

When Garrus held the weapon, he instantly felt the weight. It was heavier than any other modern day weapon he had carried. He was more used to the collapsible weapons made with the proper ceramics.

"Adjust sights 2cm up, 1.3cm to the left." Plague instructed as Garrus looked through the scope.

He did what he was told and slowly pulled the trigger.

The recoil hit him hard in the shoulder, and he let out a miner growl as he rubbed the spot.

"Son of a bitch." Garrus cursed as he handed the rifle back to its owner. "How can you fire that cannon like you do?"

"Practice." Plague answered as he looked at the cans through the scope. "You clipped it though. With this gun that could be a good crippling shot."

Garrus slowly picked up his rifle and looked through the scope, trying to ignore the soreness in his shoulder.

The can was grazed, but that was an extreme understatement. The can had been ruptured on the left side.

"Crippling? That would take the whole dam leg off." Garrus joked.

**Plague POV**

Plague found himself lounging around the hanger, long after Garrus had went back to deck 3.

He had been messing with his Omni tool, still trying to find some familiar music. Anything that could remind him of home. Sure he liked the quiet now that he didn't have to worry about super mutants and any other mutated animals, but one needs to keep a sense of familiarity. No matter how small.

Plague sat in the corner next to a crate, filled with whatever might be inside.

If he was back in the wastes, he would have found a way to crack it open, and then find out what could be salvaged from the find. It felt odd, not needing to forage for food and materials in a destroyed town, or having to hunt down game that was just as likely to kill you as you are of killing it.

He didn't have to set up a defensive perimeter with land mines and traps when he wanted to sleep. He had access to clean crystal clear water.

Anyone ells from the wastes would call this paradise, the promised land, utopia.

It all just felt so surreal to him.

"How lucky can one guy be;" Plague sat up suddenly as the song played. "I kissed her and she kissed me, Like the fella once said, Ain't that a kick in the head?" Plague couldn't believe he had found something. "The room was completely black, I hugged her and she hugged back."

He seemed to relax as the music washed over him. The last time he heard this song was last time he was around the New Vegas strip. The capital wasteland didn't get that radio station over the moutons. 3Dog didn't have the song either.

"Like the sailor said, quote,"

"Ain't that a hole in the boat?" Plague sang weekly along with the song.

"My head keeps spinning;"

"I go to sleep and keep grinning;"

"If this is just the beginning,"

"My life's gonna be beautiful." a female voice sang next to him.

He was about to re atomize one of his weapons until he saw the familiar black and white outfit. The shoulder had been fixed as if nothing happened.

"I've sun- shine enough to spread;"

"Ms. Goto. Pleasure to see you again." Plague greeted as he relaxed back into his corner.

"It's like the fella said,"

"I didn't know you were into those kinds of songs." Kasumi said as she sat with her back to the wall near Plague.

"Tell me quick, Ain't love like a kick in the head?"

"I wanted to talk to you. Back on Purgatory…" Plague could see a slight blush under her hood. "…you talked about torturing to survive. What did you mean?"

"Like the fella once said, Ain't that a kick in the head?"

"My life was not that easy." Plague started as he looked at his Omni tool.

"Like the sailor said, quote,"

"Up until I was 19, I had never seen a sunrise."

"Ain't that a hole in the boat?"

"So you lived on a space station, or something?" Kasumi asked as she tilted her head.

The thief sat with her legs pulled close to her like someone sitting at a campfire.

"My head keeps spinning;"

Plague let out a short chuckle at her question.

"The opposite actually. My world had a nuclear war. Shelters were made to protect the people before the bombs fell." If Kasumi had a question, she was waiting patiently for him to finish before asking.

"I go to sleep and keep grinning;"

"Generations are born. We lived sheltered lives compared to those outside of the vaults. The surface is a wasteland. The only food out there is irradiated. Water burns your skin. The animals are mutated beyond recognition. Slavers attack towns."

"If this is just the beginning,"

"But you had to of had help right?" Kasumi asked in a confused voice.

"My life's gonna be beautiful."

"From who? The Brotherhood of Steel are busy dealing with super mutants and raiders. And the NCR are too spread out too thin to accomplish anything."

"She's telling me we'll be wed;"

"NCR, and the Brotherhood of Steel?" Kasumi asked with a look of recognition in her eyes. "You said those names when we first met you."

"She's picked out a king size bed."

"I am a knight of the Brotherhood. They specialize in salvaging, and collecting old technologies. Their goal is to make sure the future generations don't make the same mistakes."

"I couldn't feel any better or I'd be sick;"

"Where are you from?" she asked out of nowhere. "Why didn't the humans on your home planet just leave and get help from somewhere in Citadel space? The way you talk, it's as if living there was the only option."

"Tell me quick, oh ain't love a kick?"

"Because. It WAS the only option. We couldn't leave." Plague said a little louder then he intended it to be.

"Tell me quick, ain't love a kick in the head?"

Kasumi's mouth hung open at the confession as the song ended.

"I should get going Ms. Goto." Plague announced as he stood up.

He didn't want to continue talking about the subject. Plague gave Kasumi a quick nod as he walked to the elevator.

"Wait…" Kasumi said as she got up to follow him. "What do you mean?"

Plague froze at the elevator door, unsure if he should answer the question. He had thought of a back-story for himself, after all what would everyone say if he told them his idea that he was from an alternate earth? But as Kasumi looked into his eyes, he didn't know what to say.

"Why couldn't everyone leave the planet if it was so dangerous?" she asked, now standing right beside him.

"Because…" the sentence fought against him as if it didn't want to be said. "…we were not that advanced." he looked to his right, and he could see the thief's eyes widen as he spoke the next sentence. "My Earth…doesn't exist here…The day I arrived on Omega…I looked up things from my home…things that should never be forgotten." for the first time since Sarah died, Plague felt his eyes water. "I see trees…clean cities…clean water. Nothing but your beautiful world. I have been taken out of a world that needed me…a world that was on a slow path to recovery…all for nothing." Plague turned and slid down the elevator door. "My Earth was…hell. I have seen people die on a daily basis. I've seen children…taken from dying parents…only to then be turned into slaves…or worse, sold by their own parents." he looked up at Kasumi who had a look of disbelief. "My mother died giving birth to me. Medical treatment only goes so far in the wastes. My father died…to supply clean water…to everyone. Before I left the vault, I was taught many things. Math, history, geography, diplomacy…all as worthless as the air that exits my lungs. The only skills that kept me alive, was my sense of ingenuity, and my engineering expertise to keep my weapons working."

He needed to get out of the hanger. He had said too much. Plague was about to get up and leave, until Kasumi spoke.

"That's a lot to take in…" Kasumi said quietly. "I don't know if…what you say is true, but…right now you are in a galaxy that needs you. Not just a world."

Plague looked up at the thief, not expecting her to say what she did. He expected her to not believe, to walk away, to call him insane, tell him his world was a lie.

"If what Cerberus says is true, then you will be saving thousands of lives. I also talked to Garrus when I first joined. Did you know there was a first Normandy? He served on the crew following Shepard's orders, chasing a rouge Spectre who was working for a machine race called the Reapers." she kneeled down next to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "These Reapers want to kill us…kill everyone in the galaxy. You are needed here."

He felt a little warmer hearing that from her.

"I can't pretend I know what you are going through, but I at least know what it's like to lose someone you love." she seemed to look a little pained as she said that.

He didn't know what he was doing until he brushed away a tear that had started to work its way down her cheek. She seemed to be a little shocked from the small contact but she put it aside as she stood up.

"Now Mr. 101." she started, her more cheerful side showing as a smile appeared. "I'm going to see if I can get Gardner to make something edible. I believe Mordin was looking for you earlier. Not really sure, but I think it had something to do with boosting the immune systems of mankind with a cattle prod, or something like that. Not sure really. Kelly and I think he sounds like a hamster on coffee."

The thief held out a hand to Plague.

After a short chuckle, Plague took the hand and was pulled up. Thankfully he only had a few things atomized or ells she would have been pulled down. The rest of his gear was in his room.

"About…what I said." Plague started as he and Kasumi stepped into the elevator.

"I can keep a secret." Kasumi assured him as she gave him one of her cheerful smiles. "I'm one for gossip, but I know when to keep my mouth closed."

Two days later

Plague walked through engineering. He had never seen the ships core, but as soon as he saw the sphere ideas swarmed him. Inspiration for some kind of EMP system he could build into his power armors. Problem was finding a way to make the rest of his suit immune to it.

He was walking back to his room, until he noticed the stairs that went into some kind of hide hole. Plague know Jack lived down there, but he never got the chance to properly introduce himself.

He walked down the stairs into the dark space. The pipes reminded him of some sewers he had had the displeasure of walking through in his past life.

"Hello?" he called out as he walked into the area.

There was a bunk, a small table across from it, data pads strewn all over the floor along with trash.

"What the fuck do you want?" Jack asked in a hostile voice.

She was sitting on the bunk with a data pad in her hands. The biotic looked at Plague with a mixed look of irritation and anticipation for a reason to attack.

Taking the silence as his queue to talk, he stepped forward.

"Well, I never got a chance to introduce myself. My name is Plague, and I am currently staying in the…"

"Why the Fuck should I care, Dumb Ass?" Jack interrupted.

"I wanted to get to know you better…" Plague started in a polite manner as he was interrupted again.

"Your that freak with the fishbowl on his head." she announced as if finally realizing who was talking to her.

"…yes, and I."

"Still don't care Fishbowl." Jack fired back. "Go piss off."

**Taylor Shepard POV**

"…um…Commander." Joker stammered over the intercom.

"What Joker?" Shepard asked as she walked to the mess hall.

"There's a problem in Engineering."

"What's wrong?" she asked as she changed her course to the elevator.

"Not much except for Jack trying to flatten Plague like a pancake. Other than that, we are just peachy."

A minute later, Shepard stepped out of the elevator to be greeted by muffled shouting. She followed the noise and opened the door to the engines…to duck as a large mass flew ever her head.

"Fucking Pencil Dick!" Jack shouted in the doorway with her biotics flaring.

She walked back down the stairs as the door closed.

Shepard looked behind her to see Plague slumped on the ground.

He was banged up and bruised, but that didn't stop him from getting back to his feet.

"No, I am not done with your Flat Chested Ass!" Plague shouted as he stormed past Shepard and down the stairs.

Finally, Shepard pulled herself together and followed where the two had gone.

"Shit Filled Fishbowl!" Jack shouted as Shepard turned the corner.

"Krogan Cock Sucker!" Plague shouted back.

"Shit in a Can."

"Social Phobic Bitch!"

"Pussy!"

"Hob Knocker!"

"What the Flying Fuck is a Hob Knocker?"

"No Fucking Idea Bitch! Heard it somewhere and Wanted to Fucking Use It!" Plague answered.

"Enough!" Shepard shouted in the small space. "What is going on in here?"

Jack and Plague looked at each other with some confusion, and then looked back at their Commander.

"Not much." Jack answered in a mild manner.

"How are you doing Boss?" Plague asked just as calm as the biotic who just a few seconds ago, was throwing him around like a rag doll.

"Crap." Plague blurted out of nowhere. "Forgot what I was thinking about."

**hope you guys liked the chapter. Yeah I know there wasn't a lot of action. Anyway...what should i quiz you guys on now? Oh I know. This is a ME question. **

**What's the Drell homeworld?**

**Other thing. I was wondering if someone who is reading this is a good machinima maker. You know those fight for the lost trailers? I was hoping i could work with someone who can record Fallout footage. if you can let me know. Would be awesome if Plague had a fight for the lost vid. lol**


	11. Chapter 11 A bottle goes a long way

I am sorry for how long this chapter took to come out.

Anyway the question was what is the name of the Drell homeworld?

The answer is Rakhana and the winner is DirtyBlue929. Good job.

Before the chapter i would like to clear up a few things

The Wildcard

Part 11

"The problem is it is only programmed to treat human injuries." Plague explained to Mordin in the tech lab. "I was wondering if you could help me out with this problem."

Plague was standing on the other side of Mordin's workstation. He watched as the salarian examined his Prototype Medic Power Armor's helmet.

"Interesting." Mordin said after a short silence. "No markings from the manufacturer, human design, but the methods used in its creation don't seem to be as advanced. It is both advanced with it's design and functions, but at the same time…lacking all current day technology used by humans."

"What you are holding is a one of a kind." 101 explained as he leaned against a wall. "I want to keep it that way. Normally I would kill anyone trying to get their hands on my gear. I am giving you a chance. I'm taking a leap of faith here."

"Understood." the scientist said as he looked away from the helmet to look at Plague. "After hearing about your performance on Purgatory, I can see why you would be hesitant to let anyone mass produce your armors. I also believe you are making a wise choice. Cerberus's influence would increase if they received a schematic. I may be a scientist, but I am aware of the consequences of revealing such an apotheosis."

"We have an understanding then?" Plague asked as he tilted his head.

"Yes, 101." he answered with a quick nod. "All data will be stored on my Omni tool to prevent any information leaks. It will delete all crucial information if something were to happen to me."

When Plague first met the salarian, the first words that popped in his head, was foresight, understanding, resourceful, discreet. Now after talking to the man a few times, four words popped into his head to be added to the rest. Slow The Fuck Down.

"I have the data you want to integrate into your armor, but I am a little worried about how a will transfer it." he said as he pushed a few buttons on his Omni tool. "The helmet is somehow blocks all transmissions."

With a sigh, Plague got the helmet from him and started to manipulate some mechanisms within the helmet.

"It was built in a time of nuclear war." Plague started to explain. "It's design helps it stay functional while in close proximity to a bomb going off..."

Mordin had been silent until those last few words. "The EMP sent out from a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere. Yes. Lead would have to be in the design to provide radiation resistance, backup systems, manual restart. Outside casing blocks outside interference. A solid transfer then. Wires, cables?"

As he said that, Plague had activated to last mechanism. A little hatch opened to reveal a plug attached to a cable that Plague pulled out.

"Correct." 101 answered.

Taylor Shepard POV

"Docking to the Citadel, Commander." Joker informed Shepard over the intercom. "Want me to dismiss the crew to shore leave?"

Shepard was just coming out of the shower in her room when Joker asked.

"That's fine Joker." She replied as she grabbed a towel. "None crucial personnel only though. I'm going to go meet up with Captian Anderson in the Presidium. Call Garrus, and Mordin to the airlock please."

"Sure, Commander. Tell the Caption I said hi…and leather seats are WAY better, if he asks."

Shepard rolled her eyes as she walked to her already prepared set of armor on her bed. She didn't want to seem hostile, just able to show she didn't go soft over the years. Sure she was dead for the last two years, but everyone ells didn't know that.

Last time she came to the Citadel, it was to refuel, and stock up on supplies. She barely had time to pick up Kasumi.

Kasumi Goto POV

Kasumi was admiring the view of the Citadel through her viewport window when Joker's voice went over the intercom.

"Crew, we are now docking with the Citadel. None essential personnel are entitled to shore leave." Joker announced. "We are leaving in 10 hours. Commander wants you all back in 8. Have fun everybody."

Once the announcement was over, Kasumi could hear cheering in the next room.

The cheers made her smile a little at how easily Joker had raised their spirits.

"Garrus, and Mordin are supposed to meet up with Shepard in the airlock." the pilot finished.

The thief closed the viewport's shutters when a new train of thoughts crossed her mind.

Three days ago, Plague had told her where he was from. She kept showing her smile to him, while on the inside, she was confused.

Such a reality couldn't exist. An Earth covered in radiation that mutated the wildlife, reduced the world to a wasteland. One can't just travel through dimensions. She wanted to comfort him in his depressed state in the hanger.

Her mind told her he was lying, but his face told her otherwise. She didn't know what to believe. Kasumi had been avoiding him since then. She didn't know what to say, nor did she know if she should believe his words. And her avoiding him made the thief feel terrible. If he was telling the truth, then she might be the only person he could talk to. To tell her what he felt about his surroundings, to tell her how lost he was in the new world he found himself in, to tell her how his life was before…this existence.

It would be the same as leaving a child on an alien world, without a guide.

She needed to find a way to prove it. Sure his technology was advanced, but how did she know some company hadn't been building all of it in secret, and Plague hadn't just taken it while they had they're backs turned.

She could engage him in conversation, and see if he slips at some point, and watch his reaction. There was always the option of taking him on the Citadel. She could watch his reactions to whichever species he hadn't seen yet. See if the tall buildings were truly alien to him.

A smile worked a way on her face when the idea popped in her head. She could invite Plague, and show him, in a way, around town.

Plague POV

101 was in his room sharpening a replacement knife, to replace the one he lost on Purgatory.

He smiled as he remembered Gardner's face when the butcher knife went missing.

"Why the fuck do you have a sledgehammer?" Jack asked as she looked around his arsenal.

He and Jack had arguments here, and there, but in a way they developed some kind of punk brother sister relationship. There was no name for what they were really. It was definitely not romantic. Sure Plague was easily attracted to women, but Jack reminded him far too much of himself. He and Jack would slowly gravitate towards each other, and then try to piss the other off in an attempt to kill time, or fight boredom. They would curse each other out when there was nothing to do. Jack tossed him around every once in a while with her biotics.

Jack seemed to enjoy doing that, and seeing if he could shake it off. He did, every time. It was a little game they shared. Well…I game for the biotic.

They weren't friends, simply something for each other to tolerate and vent on.

"Why the fuck shouldn't I have a sledgehammer?" Plague asked as he turned his chair around. "Never know when someone could use some renovating in the skull area."

"That's fucked up." Jack replied as she walked to the door. "See you later, Fishbowl."

He simply waved her off as he spun his chair back to the workbench.

He tested the knife's weight in his hands as Joker made his announcement. He hadn't really met the man yet, but he could tell he was an alright guy. Perhaps in the future he could strike up a conversation later.

The now repurposed weapon, flipped in Plague's hand with quick precision and ease as he wondered what the Citadel was. Sure he had heard some things on Omega, but never anything clear. He knew that C-Sec was the law enforcement, security was tight, few good bars.

Jevsensa, the turian bartender at Afterlife, told him he had a cousin working in a place called Chora's Den in the Wards District. Wherever that was.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard his door open again. Thinking it was just Jack again, he kept sharpening the knife.

"Plague?" a familiar female voice said.

He put the knife down and turned his chair, to see Kasumi in the doorway.

"Ms. Goto." Plague greeted, as he got out of his chair.

He hadn't seen the thief since he confessed his origins. Sure he saw her around the ship, but there was never a time to talk. She always had somewhere to go.

He started to feel as if she was avoiding him.

"Do you need something?" Plague asked as he walked around his ammo cases.

"Oh, not much. I was going to go on shore leave actually." she informed him with one of her trademark smiles on her face. "Was wondering if you wanted to go with me. I could show you around."

"Why?" 101 asked with some confusion. "This some kind of date, or do you expect some shooting?

He was always used to someone luring him into a trap. He knew he was worrying too much. Old habits die hard.

"Not a date, just friends. Just to show you around." Kasumi answered as she tilted her head. "You really want a girl like myself, walking the streets alone?"

"Not all girls walking the streets can cloak, while hacking into a restricted area." Plague joked as he held out an arm to her.

Kasumi was blinded by everything in the room atomizing. Once the light died down, Plague was in an old gray tux, along with a top hat, along with some dark leather gloves, to hide his robotic fingers.

"How many outfits do you have?" Kasumi blurted out once she saw him. Her eyes were wide as she fought down a chuckle. "I guess I don't need to worry about you dressing for an occasion."

Kasumi looped her hand around his, and they walked out of the room. Once they got in the elevator, Plague could see his companion taking quick looks at him.

"Something wrong, Mrs. Goto?" he asked as the doors opened to deck 2.

"Nothing." she answered quickly. "Just, not really sure where to take you."

Plague chuckled a little, as they made their way to the airlock. Members of the crew looked at them as they passed.

101 didn't know if it was the unexpected formalwear he was using, or if it was how he and Kasumi were walking together.

"We could find a bar, or something." Plague offered. "Maybe, see the sights?"

"That sounds good." Kasumi agreed as she looked at the cockpit. "Hey flyboy, me and Plague are going on shore leave." she explained as the airlock opened.

"Ya, ya…" a man, who Plague guessed was Joker acknowledged. "…wait, with who?"

The airlock door closed before Kasumi could answer, or she didn't really want to answer.

Kasumi's actions were a mystery sometimes.

Once they were finally off the ship, Plague was greeted by the familiar sounds of the crowds. Well…it was familiar in Omega. In the wastes, a noise meant something was nearby that either wanted to eat you, or simply kill you and take your belongings.

Kasumi Goto POV

Kasumi guided Plague slowly through the docking area, and when she saw him looking through the viewport, she came to a stop to let him take in the view.

She saw his mouth open and close a few times, maybe not sure of what to say.

The thief thought the view was beautiful as well. The arms of the Citadel, the purple nebula off in the distance. The buildings that could be seen on each arm, distant lights from fly cars going from destination, to destination.

But she wasn't as shocked as Plague. His eyes widened as a ship flew past the window.

She didn't expect him to re atomize something on the other side of him.

Her face showed some alarm, until he lifted the item.

A pair of binoculars. "Binoculars."

She saw that one lens was cracked, as he lifted it to his eyes. A smile formed on his face, as he examined the area.

The look on his face, made her smile. He was like a child, looking at the stars for the first time.

"Want to take a look?" he asked out of nowhere, as he handed the pair to her.

Hesitantly, she took it. She could feel it's battered frame, its loose parts. It felt like it could break in her hands.

She lifted it to her eyes and saw the view. Sure she had seen better, but it was the gesture that made her smile growl wider.

They took turns looking, until they noticed the looks they were receiving. Kasumi handed the binoculars back to Plague, who simply dropped it in his upside down top hat.

"Abracadabra." Plague said in a cheesy sounding voice, as the binoculars vanished in a white light.

In response, Kasumi laughed. She didn't know why she did. She even knew his secret, but she still couldn't help herself.

Placing the hat back on his head, Plague held his arm out to her like he had done on the ship.

"Shall we continue, Madam?" Plague asked, as Kasumi looped her arm around his.

"Lets." she agreed.

Taylor Shepard POV

"I can't believe this." Shepard shouted in Captian Anderson's office.

She had just talked with the Council. They wanted proof of the reapers existence, and she practically forced Sovereign's mechanical ass down their throats. Joker finished off the reaper, in clear view of everyone. Ending result, reaper pieces, raining down all over the Citadel.

Out of all that wreckage, they couldn't see that it wasn't Geth tech?

Sovereign's technology was far more advanced then anything built by the Geth, or anyone ells.

"How can they still say they don't exist?" she shouted to no one.

"I don't know, Shepard." Anderson agreed as he walked to the balcony of his office.

"And the turian councilor used air quotations! "Ah Reapers" I didn't even know turians knew what that was." Shepard then looked over to Garrus. "No offense, Garrus."

"No. I'm with you." the turian agreed.

"At least they restored your Spectre status." Anderson said. "But it doesn't really mean anything. Just a title."

"At least we don't have to worry about them locking us up for working with Cerberus." Garrus added. "I thought they would arrest us just for stepping onto the Presidium."

Shepard gave a small chuckle when she heard that. "What's wrong, Garrus? Think they'll make a cell strong enough?"

Plague POV

The wastelander couldn't believe what he was seeing. The tall buildings, the lights, the architecture.

He and Kasumi were walking through the markets. They had to sneak in however. With Plague messing up scanners, he would set off everything. And Kasumi didn't like being seen. Once they formed a quick plan in ten minutes, they both cloaked, and went through an access tunnel used by technicians.

Plague looked from kiosk, to kiosk like a child in a candy store.

It was when he saw one particular item, that he practically dragged Kasumi past a human owned kiosk.

"What?" Kasumi asked as she looked back.

"Nothing." Plague answered as they turned a corner. "Just…really didn't like his selection."

Kasumi tilted her head in confusion. "The guy only had a few bobbleheads."

"I know." he groaned as he almost walked into a jellyfish looking thing.

101 looked at the back of it as it walked on. Well…maybe not it's back, but the side that was visible. It walked around on the tips of it's tentacles with fluid motions and surprising balance.

"Hanar." Kasumi said before he could ask.

"What?" Plague asked as the confused role between the two switched.

"He's a hanar." the thief said again.

"I…" Plague started. "…lets continue…shall we?"

A few minutes after Plague saw his first hanar, they found themselves walking around the Words. Once he heard the name he looked at Kasumi.

"A friend of mine on Omega has a cousin that works around here." Plague informed her. "Maybe if a throw his name around, I can score us a small discount on drinks."

"Where does he work?" she asked as she gave him a look that showed surprise.

"Chora's Den."

"Wow." Kasumi blurted out when she heard the name. "That's a shady part of the Citadel." she explained, but didn't say anything against going.

Eventually they saw the blue asari neon sign. Plague gave a small smirk when he saw the name.

The smirk disappeared however as soon as he heard the music playing.

"What is wrong with everyone's choice in music?" he said into Kasumi's ear, a little loudly so she could hear him.

"Sorry. Techno is popular." she said back with a smirk.

Plague shrugged as he lead Kasumi to the bar. He took a quick glance towards the asari dancers above the bar before he leaned in to speak to the turian bartender.

"Does a Meltiv Ter work here?" Plague asked the bartender a little loudly.

The turian's eyes widened when he heard the name, and then leaned in to answer.

"Your talking to him, human." he answered as he cleaned a glass. "What do you need?"

Plague smiled as he sat at the bar with Kasumi taking the stool next to him.

"I know your cousin, Jevsensa on Omega." he explained. "I used to work for the same boss."

"Really now? Haven't seen him in a while." he then reached under the bar and retrieved two glasses. "Small galaxy. What can I get you?"

"An Asari Mitena." Kasumi ordered with a smile.

"Well, the lady knows her drinks." Meltiv Ter said as he pulled out a blue bottle.

Kasumi Goto POV

Kasumi took a sip from her small glass. She smiled a little at the sweet taste.

Mitena was a strong alcohol that if drink quickly in gulps, would in no time make some one completely smashed. Taking sips however, was another story. The taste would wash over the tongue and rapidly go from the taste of a sweet fruit, to something that tasted like warm honey. It was made from a combination of fruits from the asari homeworld, while treated with heat and then frozen.

The asari who decided to sell it away from the homeworld, must be making a mint.

After she took her third sip, she saw Plague giving her a smile as he ordered the same. She found out later that he was watching her to see if it was drinkable before he got his own.

She understood his reasons. It was a bad idea to try an alien drink without knowing how it would effect your species.

She watched as he lifted the small glass to his nose and took a quick sniff before he took a sip.

His smile showed her he liked the taste. To her shock, he drank the rest of the glass in one large gulp.

Her and the bartender looked at him with dropped jaws, as Plague seemed to slouch a little.

"What?" he asked as if he was completely sober.

As the seconds ticked by, he didn't change much.

"Another shot please." he said to the turian as he handed back the empty glass.

"I…um…" the turian stuttered as he reopened the bottle. "…sure."

Once the glass was full, Plague emptied it in seconds.

Kasumi could see a look in his eyes that showed her he was beginning to get a small buzz from the drinks.

As she raised her glass to take another sip, she almost sprayed it onto the bar when she heard her friend order a third.

"You sure you're a human?" Meltiv asked as he filled the glass.

"Last I checked." Plague answered with a shrug before he emptied the glass again. "That's good stuff. Kasumi, what's wrong?" he asked as he looked at her still almost full cup. "Your hardly drinking at all."

"Actully, I'm drinking it the right way." she explained as she took another sip.

In response, Plague shrugged as he ordered another.

two hours later

Kasumi walked out of the bar with a slightly hyper Plague walking next to her. His eyes didn't look as hollow, as a grin worked it's way onto his face.

Kasumi only drank a glass and a half, while Plague on the other hand was drinking like there was no tomorrow.

Once he got to his twelfth glass, most of the bar was cheering him on. By the time they left, he had gone through four bottles. She thought she saw him swipe her half full glass, and finish it. For doing so as they left, those at the bar cheered as if he was a warheroe.

"Are you sure your alright?" she asked as she noticed a little hesitation in his steps.

"I'm…good." he slurred, but was still in a way sober enough to be understandable. "That stuff is…wait…what was it called?"

"Asari Mitena." she asnswerd as she fought to hold a laugh at how he spoke.

"Mitin…ena. Weird name. However…I think a prefer old fashion Vodka." he said as they walked.

"Really? You seem more of a Brandy person to me."

"How sweet…of you." he complimented as his shoulder playfully bumped into hers. "You are…beutifull." he slurred as the drinks finally started to take effect.

"Uh…thanks." she said quietly as she stopped him from falling over.

She also had a small blush on her face, but Plague was too drunk at the moment to notice…at least she hoped he was.

"I mean it." he said as he looked at her. "Miranda may…be nice…you however…are an angel."

She smiled as the shuttle car arrived next to the transit in front of them.

Drinking with Plague was fun, but Plague had enough. Kasumi thought it was a good idea to get him back to the Normandy.

"Holy shit…" he blurted out when he saw a keeper. "…Be carefull my green friend…" he shouted to the keeper, who just ignored him. "…stay away from the…bug zappers."

Kasumi almost burst out laughing when she heard that.

She lead him into the car and then took the seat next to him. After he mumbled a few things, she realized this was her chance to get some information out of him.

"Hey, Plague." she started as the man looked at her with a confused look. "Where are you from?"

"Capit…capit…Capital Wasteland." he answered with a smile.

"Where is that?" she asked as she ran some searches on her Omni tool.

"Wa…Washington…area." he explained.

"Where did you grow up?" she asked as she went through the search results.

"Safe…in a vault. Vault 101...is nice." Kasumi regretted asking when Plague's face looked saddened. "I…miss Amata. Dam…her father…dam the Overseer."

'Amata?' Kasumi thought to heself.

This Amata sounded important to Plague, but how important she couldn't tell from his voice.

"Who's Amata?" she asked as she searched for the name.

"Amata…a friend." he said as a small smile appeared. "Good friend." his eyes seamed to water a little as Kasumi thought he was looking back on his past. "She must…stay in the vault. Too dangerous. The vault needs her any…way."

"Why?" Kasumi asked after a short silence.

"With her…father dead…she's the Overseer." he showed a grin when he said the next words. "He paid for…killing my father's friend."

She felt as if she was reading the book about his life without his own permission. Sure she was a theif, but she didn't want to steal his privacy. She had to stop asking these questions, but their was something she wanted to know.

"Plague…the things you told me…are they true?" she asked a little afrade of what the answer would be.

The reason she ordered Asari Metena, was because she was sure Plague would try it without knowing that drinking too much of it would have the same results as a truth serume in humans.

She hated doing what she did, but she had to know if this man was telling her the trueth, that this man was not fooling her. In a way she felt as if she had broken the amount of trust Plague had given her.

"You are an…angel." he said, thinking she meant what he said a few minutes ago. "Your…beautiful."

She blushed when she remembered what he had called her a few moments before. Hearing him say it again, made her face redden even more under her hood, but that was not what she was asking.

"No…I mean about the wasteland. About the…bombs. The deaths. Your…hell." she corrected as she saw his face go from a smile, to a slightly depressed look.

"It is real."

Plague POV eight hours later

"SON OF A BITCH!" he shouted as he woke with a splitting headach.

It was rare for him to have a hangover. Not many drinks were strong enough to take him out.

He found himself in his room on the Normandy. The pipboy on his wrist went to work on the headach, pumping painkillers into his system.

Within minutes he was walking around his room as he started taking out his weapons, and decorated the room.

"Holy shit." said a voice in the doorway. "The fish is alive in there, huh?"

Plague looked over to see Jack in the doorway with a small look that made him think she was amused at something. "You know how heavy you are?"

"What do you mean?" Plague asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Kasumi called up me, and Grunt to help get you out of the shuttle and onto the ship."Jack explained as she walked around the room. "Grunt can't pick up your ass!" she shouted as she started laughing. "He even did his "I AM KROGAN!" thing. He only got you three feet fefore you almost took him down. Lay off the fish food, Fishbowl."

"Sounds like it was a party." Plague said before chuckling a little at Jack's Grunt impresion. "Didn't give you too much touble, did I?"

"Oh no. I love keeping the Cheerleader off your ass." she said sarcastically.

"Wait." Plague said as he signaled her to pause with a raised hand. "Miranda try to get in my pants, or something?"

The question made her face go from amusment, to disgust and anoyence at the Cerberus member's name. "As soon as we got you on the ship, she wanted us to take you to Mordin's lab to remove your gadget before you woke up. The bitch was like a fucking vulter."

At those words, Plague picked up his ripper, and walked past a confused Jack.

Miranda Lawson POV

Miranda was eating a meal in the Mess when she heard what sounded like a chainsaw next to her.

Everyone who was eating, dropped their silverware went to get as far away from the table as possible.

Her eyes widened as she looked to her right at a highly annoyed Plague who was running the small chainsaw like weapon in his left hand. Before she could say a word, Plague grabbed her arm and pulled her out of her seat.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she shouted in panic before he pressed her against the wall.

"I FUCKING told you to leave my pipboy alone!" he yelled as the weapon cut into the wall. "How were you going to remove it? Hmm? Were you going to have the salarian cut off my own hand?" as he talked, the weapon grew closer and closer to Miranda, who was still in shock until she realized how close it was. "Want to find out what that feels like?"

Before Plague could yell another word, Miranda grabbed him with her biotics, and threw him to the other side of the mess.

He hit the wall outside of the sickbay. The weapon was knocked out of his hand when he hit the wall, silencing it's motor now that it's owner was no longer holding down the trigger.

"Stand down 101!" she ordered, trying to find a way to either talk her way out, or turn the tables.

Her biotics flared as she masagged where Plague had been holding onto her arm. His grip was like a vice.

She was reminded of the first time she met the man, when she heared bones cracking as he got back on his feet. He gave her a glare that made a shiver run down her spine.

Plague POV

101 was known to be many things. Tolerative, insightful, cunning, and in some casses forgiving. But Ms. Lawson, this BITCH wants what she cannot have, and repeatedly makes it clearer every time he sees her.

If it wasn't for Jack's distaste for the Cerberus aperative, he wouldn't have knowen what she had planned.

He saw the fear in her eyes, the shivers running down her figure, her wanting to leave the room.

His glare saw through her trying to gain control.

"Plague, Ms. Lawson!" a familier female voice shouted as he saw a glimps of red armor in the corner of his eye. "You will both stand down!"

"I follow you Shepard, but I can't sleep on this ship with this…Snake in the grass laying in wait to take whats mine!" Plague shouted, but kept his glare focused on Ms. Lawson.

"Comander, 101 has technology that could revilusionize mankind." the snake said to Shepard. "His tech could also help us prepare for the Reapers."

"We will not beat the reapers by being just as bad as they are!" Shepard shouted to her second in comand. "Plague has agreed to help us on this mission, and you turn around and try to stab him in the back." Plague could sense that her glare was now aimed at him when she continued speacking. "And 101, why didn't you bring this up with me instead of pinning Miranda against a wall with a weapon that is able to cut into the ship's hull?"

"First off, Shepard. Cutting into the wall that seperates Miranda Lawson's office, and the mess hall would not hinder the ships preformince. Second, I have given Ms. Lawson mutiple warnings to leave me alone." he then finally looked at his boss. "I will respect her toys as long as she respects mine." he said to make the Comander remember what he had told her before he stepped onto the ship. "The wall doesn't belong to Ms. Lawson, so I would repair the damages mayself once a was finished making my point."

"And what point would that be?" Shepard asked with anger forming in her voice. "Where you going to decapitate her?"

"No. I wouldn't do anything that would endanger the job, Boss." Plague then looked back to Miranda. "Just wanted to make it clear to this…Brat, that she can't always have everyting she wants."

"How far is that going to go next time you want to prove a point?" Shepard asked as she walked between them. "Maybe you will get in a disagremant with Jacob and sabitage a weapon of his? Maybe you will get in an argument with Mordin, and rig his lab to explode? If you don't agree with me, will you cause a hull breach and kill the crew? If Kasumi picked up something the belonged to you, will you jump to the conclusion that she is stealing from you and force your way into her room and confront her by skipping the trial and going right to the exicution?" once she said Kasumi, Plagues eyes focused in on her like a hawk. "Maybe you could humer them a little? If you try to explane how your pipboy works, maybe Ms. Lawson will stop hounding you for a chance to stab you in the back." she then looked to Miranda, who's smirk she had at the second disappeared when she realized it was her turn for the lashing. "Ms. Lawson. I heared about what you attempted to do when Plague and Kasumi returned from shore leave. I will not tolerate such behavaer on my ship. If Plague says no, then drop it! I will not have the crew kill each other off. Now, are you going to get along, or do a need to confine you both to your decks?"

Plague calmed himself as he thought over what the Commander had said. She had a few points, but if Ms. Lawson made another move…

"I could share what I know, but Cerberus has to keep in mind that if my tech is not scannable, then that does not mean they can take it from me by force. I will also draw a line when it comes to my Armors. My armors shoulden't be put in the hands of some lab assistant who could one day deside to make a few credits by selling the desighn." Plague then lifted a finger and pointed past Shepard and to Miranda. "If such happened, would you take responsibility for the raiders and slavers who get their hands on a suit? The answer is no. Cerberus would shrug off all acusations and simple imply it was a "minor" slip. I will try to explaine how my pipboy works, but that is all. If you can't make a functional copy, then that will simply be the end of it. Understood?"

Miranda looked at him with a look that told him she was thinking over what was said. "Even though your armors could help mankind drastically?"

"That's the reason!" Plague shouted as he lowered his hand. "Humanity, Mankind, Humans. Not a single mention of the other races. Cerberus would withhold an advantage. Either you are clueless, or you think the same way as your boss."

"Fine." Miranda said with a hint of iritation wich was quickly covered with her way of moving that made her seem more calm in the conversation. "I would like to talk about how your pipboy works, If you are alright with the topic?"

I know what you are thinking. "A little early with Plague confrontation, don't you think Matalvis?" I know, I know. But We had to get that argument cleared up at some point, Right?

Now about Kasumi's method of finding out if Plague was telling her the truth. she's not going to just say "OK I'll beleive you are from another univers where mankind has cimmited mass nucliar genecide like some gullible little giddy schoolgirl. What's that Plague? you want me to take off my cloths and then bend over infront of you to save the world? OK!" no. Kasumi is smarter then that.

enough of me clearing up any future arguments, and/or anoying questions like that. i like reviews and messages. but to bluntly ask such questions as if you were a 7 year old gets i little anoying. hell one person never even played mass effect and thought i threw the LW into a game that he keeps saying is bulshit. really man? why are you in the Fallout/Mass Effect crossover if you didn't like the games? Piss off you bloody Wanker.

no i am not english. i just love how they say things some times.

this chapters question is

What happens when someone iritates or tries to capture a Keeper?


	12. Chapter 12 A Plague on the Horizon

Hello all. First I want to say how sorry I am that it took so long for this chapter to go up. Sadly I can never get any free time. Anyway. Last question was what happens when you disturb a Keeper.

Winner is Iyrsiiea.

Answer is if someone attempted to capture or disrupt a keeper, the keeper would

Self-destruct.

Enjoy Chapter 12

The Wildcard

Part 12

After several hours of him trying to explain how his pipboy worked, Plague found himself fighting a massive headache. Sure the pipboy in question, was pumping painkillers into his system, but that didn't stop him from complaining about it as if he was talking to someone as he walked around the ship.

"God dam, mother fucking, cock sucking, shitty…" he seemed to trail off as he noticed Kasumi walk out of the restroom on her way to a room he hadn't been in yet. "Greetings Ms. Goto."

As he talked, Kasumi didn't stop walking as if she didn't hear him. The last time he saw Kasumi, was yesterday when they started drinking. After that he had seen her around the ship and tried to talk to her, but she would give him the silent treatment.

He couldn't really remember what happened after the first bottle…but by the way Kasumi ignored him…he was beginning to think he fucked up somehow.

'Fuck…did I make a move on her?' he shouted in his head as he started thinking 90 mph. 'Oh god…did I do something?' he stopped at the wall in front of the elevator and started to hit his head on the wall, filling the small space with some thumbs every time he made impact.

The impacts started to add to his already present headache.

Once he hit the wall the 17th time, he thought of something.

"Hey, AI. You there?" he shouted loudly in the hallway, but not loud enough to be heard in the mess hall.

"I am always here, Wildcard." the AI answered. It saying it was "Always" here gave Plague a slightly creepy feeling. "I am called, EDI. Do you need medical assistance?" EDI asked, maybe talking about Plague's brief conflict with the surface next to him.

He wouldn't really be surprised if the AI could hear the impacts.

"No. No." Plague answered. "I just need to ask you a question." Plague said as he stepped in the elevator.

"Specify your inquiry."

"Do you know what happened when me and Ms. Goto returned from shore leave?" he asked as he pushed the button for Deck: 5. "She seems a little crossed with me."

The elevator ride was silent, as Plague counted the seconds that the AI stayed quiet.

"Ms. Goto called Jack, and Grunt to assist in your return to the ship." EDI started to explain. "Once Ms. Goto returned with you and the others, her heart rate was beating faster then usual. That along with her facial expression showed she was both saddened and stressed upon arrival."

With that last word, Plague hit the elevator door with his head.

"…Thanks, EDI. That's all." he mumbled as the doors opened.

"Logging you out, Wildcard."

Kasumi Goto POV

'What's wrong with me?' the thief asked herself as she looked at the painting before her.

The work of art was given to her by a sweet little girl she had saved. The yellow eye-like circles looked as if they were shining through the reddish haze that was the background.

The painting always had a way of helping her think as she admired the brush strokes.

'Why did I do it?' she practically shouted to herself. 'I'm terrible…he trusted me…and I drugged him up to interrogate him!' she started pacing in front of the art on the wall as she looked at the next work of art nearby. 'What do I do?'

Kasumi had done many things in her career. Knocked out guards, trespassed, invade peoples privacy by sneaking around while cloaked. And of course, lets not forget stealing. But what she did on the Citadel made her want to, in a word, turn herself in.

She was starting to feel disgusted with herself. There was no meaning to what she did. Why didn't she just trust him? Why didn't she just take his word for it?

Plague had been through a lot. And what does she do? Just threw the trust Plague had given her in his face. Of course he didn't know she had, but that just made her feel even more like she needed a shower.

And that's not all. She didn't just ask those few questions. Where did he grow up? Who's Amata? Is everything he said true?

The time it took for them to get back to the shuttle, was more then enough for her to get over the shock.

Out of curiosity, she asked more.

(It would only be 20 minutes until they would get back to the Normandy. She sat on her side of the shuttle, and occasionally took quick glances at the drunk man beside her, who at the time in his drunken daze, was sidetracked by the lights outside of the shuttle.

Plague was getting tired now, she could tell. She had used the same alcohol to trick someone to give her floor plans, passwords, and other things in her time as a thief. Kasumi knew what the side effects would do to those who drank it.

First was the drunkenness, next what she called the "gossiper" where the individual would let certain things slip, next was the stage where the drink would become a truth serum. Plague was almost to the final stage, where he would eventually fall asleep.

She wished she wouldn't have to do this, but she had to be sure.

"Plague?" she called to get his attention.

The man looked away from his window with a hazy look. He fought to keep his heavy eyelids open as he looked into her eyes.

"Ms…Goto…?" he mumbled as his head dipped a little. "I'm…Plag…no…no I'm not."

Questions started flooding into her mind as she heard him say that. Of course she knew Plague wasn't his real name. Why would he call himself that however?

'No…' she said to herself before she asked for what his real name was. 'I can't ask him that. Could I?'

"How are you feeling?" she asked to keep her from asking the actual question on her mind.

"I don't…don't…I had…worse"

Knowing about the scars she had seen on him made her not doubt that. "Ok." Kasumi needed a distraction.

She started messing around with her Omni tool to both kill time, and distract herself.

"What…is wrong…with me?" she heard him say to no one in particular. "I…something's wrong."

Those words made her look at him with some worry. "Plague, Are you ok?" she asked quickly as the man in question fell back into his seat.

"No…I am not…ok." he said quickly as he faced her when she moved. His eyes looked glazed over as he looked at her with a saddened expression. "Why…aren't you…using my name…Sarah?"

That question made her jaw drop as her eyes opened in shock. "I…I'm not…" she started to say nervously when she realized Plague thought she was someone else.

He must have been in between the last two stages. How that's even possible however, was unknown to her. The stages should be quick. The man was half asleep, and somehow still lucid enough to talk, but as for why he thought she was this "Sarah" was beyond her. What she did know however was he wouldn't last long.

"I'm not…" she started again but stopped when she felt a hand grab hers next to her.

She looked down to see Plague's hand holding hers tightly. Not tight enough to hurt her, but tight enough to show the sadness of the moment. This was confirmed when she looked into his eyes as he remained in his seat.

"I…miss you…Sarah…" he said quietly enough that she had trouble hearing those words. His eyes started to water as he looked at her. "…Please…don't go…" he mumbled when Kasumi tried to gently pull her hand away. "…don't leave me…"

His voice made her heart leap into her throat when she heard him. She heard the pain in his voice. She was all too familiar with the feeling of losing someone, and she could tell Plague loved this Sarah deeply.

When she heard Keiji had been killed, she was alone with the grief. She would walk around and every time she saw someone who looked like him, she would break out into tears in whatever dark corner she was hiding in. Plague had gone through what she herself was still going through. "…I…I'm here." she forced herself to choke. Instead of pulling her hand away, she gave his a comforting squeeze. "I'm not…leaving."

Watching the tired smile form on Plague's face, made her smile a little herself. Her vision started to blur when she felt the tears start to run down her face.

"I…I will…protect you…this time, Sarah. I can't…lose you again…" Plague's words started to come out slower as he started to lose the fight with his eyelids.

She knew he had only seconds left. This could be her only chance to ask, and she knew it. She breathed in air quickly between the sobs that started to appear. She needed it to steady herself for what she was going to ask.

"What's…your name?")

"Adam…" Kasumi mumbled out loud.

She felt sick of herself when she heard her voice say the name. she had no rite to say it. But, she had to know it…she had to know the name of the man who without knowing it, helped her with the sorrow she had bottled up.

She held his hand and put her head on his shoulder for the rest of the trip back to the ship, and let the waterworks flow.

Thankfully Jack, and Grunt didn't notice how she looked under the hood that covered most of her face. They also didn't see her holding his hand.

"I'm sorry…" she said quietly to the man, who wasn't even in the same room.

He may have helped her a little bit, but to do so she pretended to be his Sarah. Adam's Eve.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt sick with herself. Even with how she felt, Kasumi couldn't help but smile at the analogy.

Maybe it was her more artistic side that noticed it. A man named Adam falling deeply in love. Sarah being his Eve.

Donovan Hock's party was coming up soon…and she will be ready to get back Kaiji's graybox.

In a way, Plague didn't just help her with her emotions, he showed her, her resolve.

"I will have my Adam back."

Plague POV

"The roads are the dustiest, The winds are the gustiest" Plague's Omni tool sang in the cargo hold as he dismantled his mini-gun in a corner. "The gates are the rustiest, The pies are the crustiest"The song reminded him of old times. Made him remember those he had traveled with.

"The songs the lustiest, The friends the trustiest Way back home (Back home)"Sadly, it also reminded him of the bad times as well. "The trees are the sappiest, The days are the nappiest"

He trusted each of them with his life, and they…most of them, thought the same way towards him. "The dogs are the yappiest, The kids are the scrappiest"

He found his first friend, Dogmeat, defending a scrap yard. The dog followed him everywhere.

Plague almost chuckled when he remembered a time Dogmeat had taken a piss on Jericho's boot. "The jokes the snappiest, The folks the happiest, Way back home"

He had met the old former raider in Megaton. He was a good friend. Sadly though, being old and experienced didn't cut it. "Don't know why I left the homestead, I really must confess"

He was a great shot, but his age caught up with him. The ache in his bones slowed him down. A super mutant got him as he ran for cover. Plague received the AK-47 bullet wounds when he was trying to drag the man into cover. "I'm a weary exile, Singing my song of loneliness"

He was a good man. Harsh, but a good man.

A few days later, he saw some slavers carrying off people. With a look of disgust on his face, Plague followed them to Paradise Falls.

He snuck in at night, and slit the slavers throats in their sleep. He had watched the slaver outpost for two days before his attack. He knew who was innocent.

"The grass is the springiest, The bees are the stingiest"

There he met Clover. A slave who had been trained to fall in love with, and fight for her current owner. He didn't know what they had done to her to get the blond like that. Repeatedly raped, maybe. Plague had killed the owner slowly.

Cutting his flesh as a gag was tied around his fucking mouth. "The birds are the wingiest, The bells are the ringiest (The hearts?)"

Plague left her with someone he trusted. He would check in on her, and eventually helped her become as close to normal as possible. Last he had seen her though, Clover was still in love with him since he was, in her mind, her lover and master. "The hearts the singiest (The arms?), The arms the clingiest"Charon, he met in a place the local ghouls called Underworld in the DC ruins. Charon was a little odd. He was bound to obey whoever held his contract.

"Way back home, (What about the sun?)"

After a while of failing to get Charon to understand the meaning of freedom, Plague ripped apart the contract in front of the man's face. At first he was extremely confused, but it didn't take him long to grasp the concept of being his own master. "The sun's the blaziest (And the fields?), Field's the daisiest (And the cows?)"

Last he heard, Charon was living in Underworld again, but not as someone's slave, but a protector of his ghoul brothers and sisters."Cows the graziest (And the help?), The help's the laziest"

Butch. Now that was kind of a surprise. Plague know him from Vault 101, and if he remembered correctly, beat the shit out of him when he started picking on his friends. He remembered giving him a broken nose one day when he was harassing Amata. "The boys (are the wittiest), The girls (are the prettiest)"

The Tunnel Snake leader followed him for a while. As for why…who the hell knows? He remembered seeing Butch start himself a living in Rivet City, instead of becoming the leader of the "baddest" raiders to ever hit the wasteland…big shocker. The fucking coward.

All that bullshit Butch had been talking in Plague's youth. "Way back home, (The pigs are the snootiest), (The owls are the hootiest)"

Star Paladin Cross. She was a friend of Plague's father, and said she had actually been there when 101 was born. Plague had so many questions for her, and for a short time felt as if she was part of his family.

She was a cyborg. Long ago she was injured and at the brink of death. The Brotherhood of Steel helped her, made her stronger.

"The plants the fruitiest, Stars the shootiest, (The grins the funniest) "

Fawkes. The jolly green giant. The first peaceful super mutant he had ever met. He gained quit a bit of knowledge in Vault 87, where he used to live before his mutation. Plague liked the intelligent conversations they shared, considering how the only other people to talk to were the damn raiders and mutant wildlife. "The smiles the sunniest, Way back home"When he traveled to the Mojave he met others. "Don't know why I left the home…"

Plague cut off the Omni tool when Shepard started talking on the comm.

"Listion up." she started with authority. "A colony named Horizon, has gone dark." with that, Plague started peicing his mini-gun together. He knew what this was about. "This is what you all sighned up for. The Collecters are making their move. Time for us to show them not to mess with the human race, and show them not to mess with those in this galexy we call home." Plague atomized the weapon and started walking to the shuttle that some techs started preparing not long after the announcement. He knew that if he was gunna be on the ground team, shuttle is where he will be told to go. "ETA to Harizon, 2 hours. Gear up, and be ready to give them hell. All ground team, meet up in the corgobay."

"Sharp, polished, and to the point." Plague complimented as he sat in the shuttle. "Like a trusty blade."

Now he had to wait.

1 hour and 57 minutes later

"Finally!" Plague shouted when he saw the elevator open with the six other members, and the seventh being Shepard herself.

Grunt, Jack, Jacob, Garrus, Zaeed, and then he saw Kasumi.

She still looked sad, and only made eye contact for a few seconds when Shepard spoke to Plague.

"Plague?" Shepard started as she led the group to the shuttle. "How long have you been here?"

"Knowing the fishbowl, he must have thought there was food in there." Jack said now fixing Plague with a glare.

"Up yours." Plague said quickly, but in a calm voice. He then looked back to Shepard. "It was a heavenly voice from above that brought me here…" he said with a humored smile as his stealth suit/duster combination re atomized on his person, his helmet now covering his face and altered his voice. "…and when the heavons call, your supposed to answer."

"Right." Shepard said back as the rest of the ground team boarded, except for Miranda and Mordin. "Mirand, and Mordin will try to help us from the air." she started as she herself boreded. "All of you have received Mordin's counter measure?"

Jacob sat down next to 101, as Grunt sat across from him.

"I have it on my stealth suit boss." Plague started as the ground team nodded.

Shepard gave him a short nod as she showed a map on her Omni tool. "Good. The plan is this. Plague, Jack, Garrus, and Kasumi with me." after hearing that, Plague looked over to the theif who turned away from him slowly to avoid eye contact. "Jacob, and Grunt will be on a second team led by Zaeed."

"Roger that, Shepard." the old man said when his name was spoken.

"Zaeed's team will be dropped off on the other side of the colony. Both teams will make their way to the center. Everyone, look out for, and defend any colonists you find." Shepard then looked over to Garrus, who was sitting across from her. "Garrus, Ash is on the planet. Keep an eye out."

"Yes, Shepard." the turian snapped as his mandibles opened slightly to make what Plague assumed was a smile. Shepard then returned the human equivalent. "Like old times."

"Am I missing something?" Plague asked when he saw their faces.

"Ashley Wiliams was on the original Normandy." Shepard answered quickly. "She's an old friend."

Plague then simply nodded at the explination as the shettle started to move after the cargo bay doors opened.

As it started to take off, the doors to the shuttle closed.

"Good luck, Commander." everyone heared Miranda say over the com.

As soon as he felt the pull of gravity as the shuttle descended, Plague really regretted coming along.

It didn't take long for everyone to notice his body language, which said rather clearly "GET AWAY, NOW!"

"Are you alright?" Shepard asked as Plague's visor opened to show the man's face. Her eyes went wide when she saw him, and clarified what she saw with two words. "Oh shit."

Right when she said that, Plague started vomiting in his little corner.

"Ha! Zaeed, you owe me a hundred credits!" Jack shouted in the small space, as she fought down the laughter.

As he vomited, Plague felt someone patting him on the back. "Let me guess, first time going into orbit?" he heard Jacob ask. Instead of answering, Plague puked up more of his stomach's contents. "I'll take that as a yes."

Grunt let out an irritated and hate filled growl as he lifted his foot.

Thankfully it didn't take long for the shuttle to land on the ground.

As soon as the doors opened, everyone on Shepard's team piled out. Plague was the last one to step onto the green grass. As soon as he saw it, the illness was replaced by both confusion and awe.

The sounds of the shuttle taking off to drop off the second ground team filled the air.

He slowly lowered himself to one knee, and put a hand on the grass that was then pressed down by his hand. Looking around, his eyes widened. The grassy plains he could see in the distence, the clear blue sky (Beside for those seeker swarms.), the healthy smells from the envirament around him.

"You, alright?" he heard Kasumi ask as she placed a hesitant hand on his shoulder. "Is it too much?" Kasumi asked him quietly with a hint of worry in her voice so no one ells could listen in.

"No…" Plague answered, knowing why she was asking.

This world was clean. His pipboy showed no radiation, the breeze felt good on his face. This was the kind of world that had been taken from those back home, and this was the world his father wanted to create with the Purifier.

"I'm…fine." he said as he lifted himself and looked at the small amount of grass he had just pulled out of the ground. He watched as the wind picked it up and it was carried by the breeze. "I'll be fine after I kill something. Thank you, Kasumi."

"Plague. You good?" he heared Shepard yell back as she walked away from the group.

"Ready, Boss." he reported as his visor closed, while he gave her a salute. "I'm good to deploy."

Plague held out his arms as his weapons appeared. A dark iron long barrel revolver with the words "AGAINST ALL TYRANTS" engraved in the side, called the Ranger Sequoia. In his left hand was Maria. A silver custom model of a M&A 9mm pistol covered in disighns of exotic flora, along with the image of Gualdalupe, also known as the woman of the apocalypse on the grip.

Both guns had been upgraded to accommodate the new rounds.

"Form up on me." Shepard ordered as she walked. She then opened up a com line to the Normandy. "We're groundside. Mordin, you sure those armor upgrades will protect us from the seeker swarms?"

She didn't wait for the reply, as she started leading her team along a white wall.

Plague heared a short silence as he followed his employer, over the com that silence was then swept to the side as the salarian started speaking from his end.

"Certainty impossible. But in limited numbers, should cunfuse detection, make us invisible to swarms. In theory…" Mordin went silent as Plague inserted himself into the conversation with a few button presses on his Omni tool.

"Should? In theory?" Plague almost shouted. "You told me it was foolproof!"

Shepard looked over her shoulder to look at Plague while the rest of the ground team did the same.

Plague's look of outrage, was hidden behind his visor, but that didn't stop the rest of the team from reading his body language.

"Mordin?" she asked after a pregnant pause. "Care to clarify?"

"Um…yes, Commander…I had to find the best way to fit the counter measure to the ground teams armors. Some…testing was needed." Mordin explained with a tinge of nervousness that was almost unnoticeable.

"I'm gunna ring your fucking neck!" the wastelander shouted, followed by the sound of Grunt chuckling over the channel.

"Experimental technology. Only test is contact with seeker swarms. Looking forward to seeing if you…" Mordin was then cut off again by Plague.

"As soon as this is over, I'm going to…"

"Cut the chatter!" Shepard shouted. "Enemy contacts!"

Those last two words made Plague push the conversation to the side. He would have to make a mental note to have a little "chat" with the alien, life sized bobblehead. While they had been talking, Shepard had lead the team to a open space with containers scattered around.

The "contacts" however, made Plague do a double take. Large bug like creatures flew over the truck and containers and took cover as they landed.

Two legs, two yellow circular eyes on both sides of a large long pointed shaped head that pointed the other way it was facing. Three sharp looking talons on the end of those strong insectoid arms holding oddly shaped weapons. Mini apendages along the waist and underarm areas that shared a small resembilence to a bug's legs.

Plague hadn't seen anything like them before. His photographic memory took in the image to be abserved later, as he raised his weapons to fire.

As soon as one of the contacts opened fire, a 9mm round found it's mark as Plague went behind cover next to Shepard.

The cover had ended up being a white wall that acted as a barrier between the open area for some vehicles and containers on the other side, and the way Plague and the others had came.

Garrus hung back a bit with his sniper rifle, while Jack, and Kasumi took cover behind the wall next to them. Jack had out her shotgun as her biotics flared, while Kasumi pulled out her submachine gun.

Shepared's biotics followed Jack's example as she pulled out her pistol.

"Jack, Make those bastard's fly!" Shepard shouted, as both her and Jack looked around their cover.

"I will throw you like a toy!" Jack yelled as the two biotcs lifted two collecters each with the upward hand motion.

Seeing the biotic display, Plague smirked a little. He started to re atomise something as he placed the two hand guns in the pockets of his duster. When he held his hand out to the flash, a golf club bag fell into his arms. However, it didn't have a single golf club in it. Instead was a number of metal rods. Plague slung the bag over his shoulder as his free left hand grabbed one.

The whole process took less then a few seconds.

He pulled out the rod and was welcomed with the glare from the kitchen knife blade welded onto the end.

"What the fuck?" he heared Jack say as she was about to slam the Collectors into the nearest solid object.

The first Collector into a container. After the impact, Plague's intentions became clear as he pulled back his arm and lounched the homemade tool of death.

The bug made a sharp clicking sound as it's torso was impailed into the surface.

He bearly heared Jack laugh over the gunfire as he readied the next spear. This one's end was formed from a flattend and then sharpend fork. The second target was pined by it's waist to the back of the truck shaped vehicle. He locked to the next target as he heard the sounds of Garrus, and Kasumi finishing off the kills.

After a few seconds, Shepard must have caught on since she pulled them in closer, but a little derected at Plague.

The third spear had another kitchen knife welded to the end. He lifted the weapon, and launched. And since they both were soo close to each other, they were skewered on the same spear. Shepard let go almost right as the spear hit, making the impact of the weapon, transfer it's own motion into them as they collided into a container.

After that it didn't take long to clear out the rest with a few shots from Garrus and Kasumi, while Jack and Shepard sent out shockwaves.

"Move up!" Shepard ordered as she walked down the stairs with her shotgun ready.

Plague and the others followed suit behind the Commander. As they walked, Plague pulled one of his spears out of a Collecter's torso. As soon as it was free and in his hands, the spear atomized.

"Plague." he heard Garrus call behind him.

He turned to see the turian toss one of his spears to him. 101 caught the spear with a fluid motion as it atomized. It didn't take him long to collect his spears with the ground teams help. The only two who didn't was Shepard, who was collecting thermal clips from the corpses, while Jack just stood near what looked like a picnic table as if to keep a lookout.

The ground team continued on as Shepard took point.

"Hey, Fishbowl." Jack called from Plague's right.

"Yes, BaldBitch?"

Jack just took her new nickname in stride as she continued. "Why the Hell do you have silverware at the end of those poles?" she asked, talking about the weapons he had just atomized.

"Why? You looking for a pole to shove up your ass?" Plague asked as he slightly tilted his head in her direction. She narrowed her eyes at him, and Plague continued when she didn't say anything back. "I don't like to waste."

Taylor Shepard POV

"Get along, children." the Commander said over her shoulder.

"…Right, Boss." PLague reported quickly.

'That was easy…' Shepard thought to herself at how quickly the order silenced the two.

"Mamma's boy…" Jack tossed in and went quiet.

'…never mind…'

"Keep a tight formation on me." she ordered as she spotted another clearing coming up.

"Comm…ander we…er ge…ing…a lot…inerf… can't mantai…th…signal." she heard Joker say over the com in between static.

"The Collecters are disrupting comunications." Garrus observed.

Rolling her eyes, Shepard spoke back. "We are on our own now."

The clearing had a house to her team's right and a raised platform to the left. Before that was a mini clearing with more picnic tables. Shepard could imagion a family eating a meal together in the beutifal weather.

It also made her think of Freedom's Progress. The empty shell that used to be a home for hundreds of colonists. A chill ran down her back at the thought.

Images of Mindoir, appeared in her mind. The calm that came before the storm of slavers.

("Mom, who's that?" a sixteen your old Taylor Shepard asked her mother, as she saw the ships descending into the atmosphere above.

She was in the kitchen sitting at the table. Her head was looking away from her Omni-tool where she was having a nice texting conversation with a friend a few streets over, and looked out the kitchen window.

It was around noon, so her mother was preparing a meal for them both. Her father was working at the spaceport, so she guessed he would be gone for a while with the incoming ship traffic.

Her mother walked around the counter and followed her daughter's gaze to the trails of orange in the sky that formed behind the many crafts.

Taylor's mother looked a lot like an older version of her. She got pregnant with her at eighteen, and recovered from the pregnancy well. She looked rather young for her age, and still had her womanly figure. She had long braided dark hair that went past her shoulders that put her daughter's ponytail to shame. The only differences visible between the two were her mother's chocolate brown eye's and slightly darker skin. Other then that, people would have thought they were siblings.

Taylor got her dark blue eyes from her father, who had red hair. She took after more of her mother's side of the gene pool.

"I don't know…" her mother trailed off in thought. "…maybe it's a bunch of late shipments." she offered as she turned back to finish preparing the sandwiches.

"Remember a few years ago when the Migrant Fleet showed up?" Taylor asked as she looked back to her Omni-tool.

Her mother laughed a little at the memory. It was a navigation error that freaked out some of the xenophobic members of the community.

"Yeah. And our old neighbor thought it was an invasion."

They both laughed at the thought of the old man running door to door delivering his warnings to his fellow humans.

"Then he went to that house where the guy had an asari wife." the younger Shepard unleashed a new flood of laughter with the image of the man delivering a punch to the racist's face when he started yelling that the man sided with the "Enemy."

"That was entertaining, wasn't it?" her mother said, and was silenced as they heard sirens going off.

"Mom?" Taylor asked with a look of confusion forming.

She hadn't heard that kind of siren before and looked to her mother who dropped the knife at the counter she was using to cut some bread.

Before she could hear an answer, she heard something that was familiar to her. A ship was flying over at a low altitude while over the area.

"Is someone landing…" she was cut off by her mother who ran to her and pulled her out of the seat. "…mom, what's wrong?"

Her answers were met with the sound of an explosion going off down the street. The sudden noise made both of them scream as they got low.

The glass from the window shattered raining sharp pieces of glass over them. When they heard the first explosion her mother embraced her to shield her from the glass.

Taylor felt a sting on her left cheek where a piece of glass had managed to cut her. She felt the warm liquid running down as another explosion was heard.

Her mother recovered first, and pulled Taylor in her stunned state, to her feet and started to lead her through the kitchen. Her ears were ringing from the noise so she couldn't make out what her mother was saying.

Suddenly they both felt a force tear apart the front of the house. The explosion sent then both flying through the kitchen and into the walk in pantry.

Something stabbed into her right arm as she felt her and her mother's combined weight hit the shelves, sending both jars and cans to the floor.

She must have blacked out a few times. She still heard the ringing in one of her ears as she slightly heard her mother groan.

"…m…mom…" she barely managed to get out as she felt her mother climb off of her where she landed, and cup her daughter's face with shaky hands.

Her face was slightly blank as she lightly spoke to her.

"Honey…I'm going…to go get Zech…from upstairs…" her voice was trembling slightly as she got up to her feet. "…yes…I…I'll go get him…" her mother's expression and tone of voice scared her, as she talked about getting her baby brother out of his crib in his room. But her body ached too much. She couldn't move…she couldn't form the words she wanted to say with her head throbbing. "be…a good girl…and stay here where…it's safe…mommy will be right…back…mommy will be right…" she trailed off as she turned slowly to stagger out of the pantry.

As she turned, Taylor's eyes opened wide as she noticed the knife her mother had been using earlier, sticking out of her back.

Blood flowed freely from the wound. It was a miracle that her mother was still standing. Her mother turned again to look at her one last time as she reached for the door controls for the pantry door. Her mother smiled warmly at her as her cheeks grew more pale.

"Yes…mommy will be…right…" she stopped as she started to fall backwards after she hit the button.

Time slowed down in the kitchen as she watched her mother fall as the door closed. Her mother's eyes started to roll to the back of her head as gravity pulled her down. Her braided hair was in the air as it followed the human it was attached to. By the time the door was half way closed, she hit the ground. The knife was pushed in more by the tiled floor and Taylor saw the blade push through her mother's chest, sending some blood into the air as it was pushed in further then the handle.

The image burned into her eyes as she started to black out again. She welcomed it. Anything was better then what she had just seen.

'this can't be…happening…'

She groggily opened her eyes as she felt something moving her. She only made eye contact once as she looked at the face with four eyes.

"I found a young one!" he shouted as he carried her out of the pantry roughly.

"She has a nice form." another voice said as she was dropped on the counter. "Should catch a good price."

A jolt of pain shot through her as whatever was embedded in her arm was pulled out.

She felt tired, her head could barely make clear what was going on as she was flipped over with her legs dangling off the counter.

She felt some one start to feel her up as she felt someone start to mess with her pants.

Her vision started to become less blurry as she looked around the room to her left. The kitchen was demolished. Debris covered the floor and she almost didn't see the form on the floor at the edge of her view.

'What's going on? What happened to the house?' she tried to focus on the form and her eyes widened once she realized what she was looking at.

"Mom!" she almost shouted as she was held down.

The ships, the sirens, the explosions. It all started to come back to her, and she was shocked to see her mother's lifeless body on the floor where she had last seen her.

With her anger growing, her biotics flared a dull blue. Taylor had received her L3 implants earlier that year, because she thought she could help around the colony with her biotics once she was taught how to control them. She had been going to lessons on how to control it, but all of the things involving safety she had learned were forgotten when she realized what had happened, and what was about to happen to her unless she did something.

"She's a boi…" the voice behind her started to yell, but was too late as she sent out an unstable biotic wave in all directions.

The one who had been holding her still, flow across the kitchen in front of her and was impaled on a jagged piece of the wooden table she had been sitting at earlier that day. The crash behind her told her she had sent the one about to rape her into the wall.

With no one holding her down, she slowly pushed herself off of the counter and fell to the floor from the exertion. She felt the impact on her knees as her hands held unto the edge of the counter.

Her head was low as tears started to run down her face. The salt in her tears stung the cut on her cheek as she rested her head on the surface in front of her. Her hands let go so her arms could wrap around her shaking frame.

"No…please…this is not happening…" she begged to herself as her eyes looked to her left.

Before she could look at the still form again, she heard a baby crying. Her eyes opened wide in terror as she grabbed something next to her and forced herself to her feet.

She couldn't look at the body as she quickly limped through the kitchen to get to the stairs.

"Zech!" she shouted as she heard a single gunshot that silenced the cry.

She froze as the sound of the shot echoed through the house.

Taylor's legs worked against her as she forced them to walk up the stairs. Each step sent a dull pain into her as she ascended.

"…Zechariah…" she mumbled as she entered the upstairs hallway.

In front of her were four rooms. One was hers, one belonged to her parents, and one was the upstairs bathroom. The fourth was her brother's.

As she stepped into the doorway, Zech's dinosaur lamp sent holographic images along the ceiling and walls. Her eyes went straight to the crib where she was both hopping and praying that her brother was ok. She took slow steps through the room and held her breath as she came closer.

Once she finally was able to look into the crib, she turned away quickly as she fell to the floor. The image was added to the one she had of her mother in her mind.

She threw up what little she had in her stomach and quickly started to dry heave since she hadn't eaten much.

She began to choke on what little vomit she had as her eyes went to something that moved. The movement was in the room across from her brother's in her parents room.

A humanoid form was searching through a nightstand next to the bed. He must have walked into that bedroom right before she made it into the hall. If she had to guess, she'd think he was looking through her mothers jewelry box that was in one of the drawers.

She could stay as she was, and wait for her brother's killer to finish what his friends started. She felt tempted to yell at him to finish it, kill her, let her see her family. But within those thoughts she felt something ells. The feeling of rage, the feeling of loss, the hatred for the form in the next room.

Not bothering to wipe the traces of vomit from her mouth, she lifted herself up and started walking. She didn't notice she had walked through what was in her own stomach as she was in the hall and approached the room.

Whatever she had in her hand ended up being another kitchen knife and she lifted it high above her head as she approached the alien in dark armor.

He had taken his helmet off to inspect the room, and she saw it on her mother and father's bed where it had a good view and watched as she stepped closer. He would not see her coming. His back was to her and he was low on one knee so he could get to the bottom drawer.

It had only been a few moments ago to her that she had seen her first dead body. And now she was about to become a killer.)

'Not again…please not again.' she thought to herself as she snapped out of her daze.

Someone's hand on her shoulder had gotten her atation and she looked to her side and found Plague attached to it and Garrus standing next to him.

"Use it." Plague said simply as he pulled his hand away.

He must have thought she was thinking about the colonists. His face was covered, but Shepard could imagine him examining the look on her face with an understanding expression.

"You alright, Shepard?" Garrus asked as they continude walking.

Was she alright? No. Did she want her team to know that? No.

She had to be strong. She had to lead, give orders.

(That night she spent curld up against her mother's cold form with the remains of her brother in her arms. Blood covered her clothing from the slaver she had repeatedly stabbed in the back of the head.

The floor felt cold, but she didn't care. Explosions went off in the distance, but she didn't care. She wanted to stay with her family, she wanted death to embrace her, she wanted to die.)

'Stop it!' she shouted in her head. 'I'm stronger then that. I AM stronger.'

(She must have fallen asleep in the kitchen. When she oppend her eyes to a voice, she noticed the sunlight shining through the demolished wall in the kitchen.

'Why am I on the…' she remembered instantly when she looked at the remains in her arms and who she was curled up to.

A new flood of tears ran down her face as she made herself as small as she could.

"My God." she heard a new voice say nearby. Shuffling debris made its way to her ears. She wanted them to go away, leave her there. She almost didn't notice the small contact on her neck where someone would check a pulse. "We got a live one here! We need a stretcher!"

Before she fell asleep again, she cracked open her eyes and looked at the man next to her. Armored, human, saddened by whatever he was looking at.

Before the darkness came again, she realized. He was looking at her.)

"I'm fine Garrus…" she let out a sigh as she felt her eyes water slightly. "…I'm good. Lets go."

The team started to walk farword and through the picnic area. As soon as they past the tables they heard something a little too familiar to her and Garrus. It was a loud scream that didn't come from a human. The sound came from what they had become.

"Tell me that is not what I think it is." Garrus said, clearly having the same thoughts.

All other posibilitys where thrown aside as a form staggered around the corner. Human shapped, circetry running through it's form, skin turned metallic gray as it looked as if it had been draind of any and all liquids and nutrients. The circuitry glowed blue as the mockery of the human form turned to look at them.

As soon as those dead glowing eyes looked to the ground team it let out another scream as it broke into a full on sprint with it's arms flailing around, desperate to rip apart whomever was in it's path.

"Open fire!" she ordered as soon as it sterted moving towords them.

Almost as one unit, the whole team peppered the husk full of holes before it made it's fourth step to them.

Before the creature could hit the ground, the sound of buzzing and more screams filled the air as more Collectors took up defencive positions as a mob of husks ran at them from the surrounding buildings.

"You take me to such beautiful places, Shepard." she barely heard Plague comment with a thick layer of sarcasm.

She paused as Plague's shape ran ahead to confront the mob.

"Plague! Get back…" she stopped to shoot back at a Collecter as her team found cover.

She looked over the wall she was using and saw Plague re atomize what looked like an old fashion shotgun.

He cocked it and planted it in the chest of the clossest husk as he pulled the trigger. In response, the husk practicly exploded and rained chunks of flesh and gore all over it's friends. (Perk: Bloody Mess. Also known as Fallout's bread and butter.)

He continued unleashing shot after shot into the crowd as they grew closer and closer to him. Plague also seamed to be having the time of his life since she heard laughing that sent chills down her spine. Sadly in his shotgun rampage, he didn't notice a second group running up on him from the side.

"Plague, find cover!" she shouted as she readied a shockwave.

101 just took a quick glance towords her and instantly understood what she was doing. He went into a sprint towords the raised platform and managed to run up the side to grab onto the railing as the shockwave went underneath him and throw the husks all over the place.

She saw him sling the weapon over his shoulder as he pulled himself up onto the platform.

Now that the man was no longer in the line of fire, Shepard ordered Jack to unleash a shockwave as she recovered from the one she had just sent out. She didn't see what heppend so she had to use Jack's reaction to tell her if she did any damage. And the trail of profanitys told her the convict was dead on target.

"Garrus, take up a sniping position on the raised platform! Kasumi, cover him!" she ordered as she looked out of cover to fire a few shots from the pistol she switched her shotgun for.

"Roger." she heard the two say almost at the same time.

"Plague, Look out!" she heard Garrus shout and saw a mass fall from the platform.

She looked further out of cover and saw Plague on top of a husk that was crushed under his and his atomized arsonal's weight.

"Mother…Fucking…Piece…Of …Shit!" he shouted inbetween him bashing the husk's face in with his fists.

As she looked at the scene though, something bothered her.

'Why is that husk red?'

Plague POV

"Why…Wont…You…Die?" Plague shouted as the husks arms continued to thrash under him.

Each pounch started to deform the ghoul's face. Well…at least he thought it was a ghoul. He honestly had no clue as to what it was.

"Plague, I don't think that's…" someone started to say to him but the ghoul's body exploded from underneath him. (Perk: Hit the Deck)

The force sent him flying into the wall he had climbed up moments ago. As he hit the wall a blacked out for a second. And before he did, he almost thought he heard someone say his real name.

The ringing was replaced by the sound of a ghoul running up on him, and almost on instinct, he re atomized a weapon and aimed.

Taylor Shepard POV

"Plague, report!" she shouted over her cover. "Shit. Garrus, do you see him?"

"No, Shepard." the turian shouted back over the sound of his rifle shooting a round into a Collect's head. "He is under me, but I am taking to much enemy fire. I can't take a look."

"Jack, we will cover you. Go in there and drag his ass out of the…" she began to order and was interrupted by a loud whistle that almost dwarfed the battlefield. The sound, sounded kind of famialer, and she blurted out the question in her head. "…Is that a train?"

A husk flying over her cover and hitting the ground answered her. But she saw no train, instead she saw what looked like a large railspike stikking out of it's back.

Another whistle ripped through the air as another railspike impaled a Collecter in the neck and pinned him to the wall.

She looked over and saw Plague standing there with a steam powered long weapon in his hands as he aimed again and took out another one.

After the ground team got over the shock, they returned fire and clearerd out the area.

"What the hell…"Shepard began to say as she got out of cover. "…on second thought. Never mind." she just waved a dismissive hand in Plague's direction and received a shrug. "You alright?"

"Yes, Boss." he groand as he rolled his shoulders. "Going to hurt in the morning." he then looked down at a husk nearby that he had shot down. "Is that a ghoul? And why the hell do the red ones explode?"

Shepard looked at the form and looked disgusted as she answered. "Those things look like the husks the Geth used on Eden Prime."

"I thought the Geth got that technology from Sovereign." Garrus chimed in as he jogged up to them with Kasumi not far behind. Seeing confused body language from Plague, he continude. "He was a Reaper we took down. At the time he was controlling the Geth, synthetics who worshipped him."

Plague slowly started to nod his head at the explenation, but he still looked fairly confused.

"We will fill you in later." Shepard said as she turned. "Either way, this proves the Collecters are working for the Reapers."

They started to walk on as Plague re atomized what looked like another railspike to load into the seemingly homemade weapon.

"Who the hell are you?" Shepard couldn't help but blurt out. "MacGyver?"

"Who?" Plague asked back as he slightly tilted his head.

"Never mind…" she answered as she rolled her eyes and became aware of a headache forming.

"Anyway." Plague said as the walked up to another husk. "how are they made? Did this thing use to be a colonist?"

It was Garrus who answered. "No. The Geth impaled their vitoms on giant spikes to turn them into husks. But we haven't seen any. The Collecters must have already had the husks." he looked around for a second, maybe seeing if he could see a spike near by. "They want the colonists alive for something ells."

'No. not again.'

The grip on her pistol tightened as she looked at the body with even more disgust at the words. "The Collecters aren't getting away with more victoms." she then took a step forward as her team followed. "Lets move out!"

"Disgusting." she heard Plague say as he stepped around the body, the motion perhaps giving it one final strand of respect for who the man used to be. "Even I wouldn't eat that."

Kasumi Goto POV

"What?" Kasumi blurted out as she looked at the man's back.

"Like a said." he looked over his shoulder and appeared to be afrade of how she would react. "I my be a survivalist, but I know bad meat when I see it. Sadly, survival doesn't always equal respect for the dead."

"When…" she started to force herself to ask. "…was the last time you were forced to…do something like that."

"I don't really like talking about it." his slightly altered voice replied. "My…condition…hits me when I least expect it. On the ship I am on a timer." he then raised up the arm he had his Omni-tool on and it activated and showed a count down of a few hours. "Every time it goes off, I have to get a meal out of the mess. Three meals a day or I could get grounded if Gardner says I skipped a meal. I am also told to eat before participating on the ground team." he then looked forward as he followed Shepard and lowered his arm. "Even then…I get cravings."

'Sounds like hell.' she said to himself.

To feel that every day, to be afraid to get close enough to someone. Every being he talked to would be in danger if he had one of those moments. She didn't know how to react to that.

"Did you eat before the mission?" Garrus asked out of nowhere. "You were the first one in the shuttle."

"Yes." he sighd. "I am Chakwas, Approved."

Plague POV

"What are those?" Shepard asked as they turned the corner.

She was talking about the rows of podlike brown pods. They all seemed to be shapped like cocoons of some kind with orange domes on the fronts.

Many things popped into his head to answer the question, but the sight may have answered for her when they noticed the human forms inside.

"All these empty buildings." Garrus absurved drawing there attention to the homes before them.

He was about to comment when the buzzing started again. As he focused on a Collecter landing, his pipboy pumped adrenaline into his brain.

'Fucking bug!' he almost shouted outloud as he aimed his weapon and sent a railspike through the head of the first one he saw. (V.A.T.S. for those who are confused…you know who you are.)

"Open Fire!" Shepard's voice shouted slowly next to him, and started to accelerate to normal speed as the amount going into his brain worked it's course.

They all ran to cover as more Collecters landed while some more husks appeared from the surounding houses. As he got low, Plague reached into his pocket for Maria since the larger weapon needed to be loaded. He leaned over his cover as he aimed. Some of the bugs hid in the houses while some took cover on balconies.

"Garrus, concussive shock!" Shepard shouted to the turian over the gunfire.

Garrus had been behind the same cover as her and leand out to fire.

The projectile flew through the air and hit just above one of the balconies and successfully killed two who were aiming over the cover.

"Jack, shockwave in 3!" she shouted to her fellow biotic as she couted down with her fingers.

Once she reached zero, Shepard sent a shockwave that murged with Jack's aimed into the door of a house. Plague instantly saw results as some bodies flew out of the window.

The bugs were still alive so he took aim as the hit the ground and each shot met no resistence except for one who managed to put up a yellow barrier.

The shield blocked the one shot, and saved the bug's life for a moment.

"You little piece of…" he started to aim and was cut off by some kind of laser before he could kill his target. The beam made his kenetic barrier shimmer with red. Before he know what was happening, his shields dropped. "Son of a bitch!"

'what the hell was that?'

The weapon packed a lot more power then it looked. He felt the heat for a split second before he took cover. That thing could have taken his arm off.

"Shepard!" he shouted as he waited for his shields to recharge. "Beam heavy wheapon!"

His warning made it to his Commander and she ducked as soon as he said that, and barely dodged the weapon before it could take her head off. "Holy shit!"

Everyone who had shields, focused their fire on the Collecter and managed to take it down before it could fire again. The instant silence told them there were no more contacts around.

"What the hell was that?" Garrus asked as they all moved up.

"I don't know, but…" she kicked the sparking weapon out of the dead bug's hands and looked disappointed that it was damaged. "…if anyone could get their hands on a functionall one, let me know."

The ground team walked through a space full of what Plague guessed were canisters.

"Colonists." Shepard said as they all noticed the forms.

Folloing Shepard's orders she gave earlier, Plague ran up to the humans and stopped when he got a good view. A man was reaching down to help up a woman on the ground and appeared to be stuck in that moment in time. As if they were just statues.

A dark energy flaired around them, similar to a biotic but appeared far different at the same time. After looking behind him, Plague saw another human stuck in mid run at the top of a staircase.

"Looks like some type of stasis field." Garrus offered as the rest of the team walked up to look at the colonists.

"Are they aware?" he heard Kasumi ask behind him as he leaned in to look at the man who was helping the woman.

The man's eyes darted from side to side in fear and focused on Plague who was closer then the rest of the team. He then looked down and saw that the woman was in the same state, focusing intently on him as if she thought he could free her.

"They are aware." Plague answered as he placed a hand on the woman's shiulder. "You all are going to be alright."

Words were the only things he could do for them, but he instantly saw results in the eye movment.

"Must be how the bugs capture people." Jack, of all people said as she started walking with the ground team who all started walking. "Make them helpless."

Plague gave the woman one last squeeze on the shoilder as he left the captured forms.

He startede to follow the group that had stopped as Shepard bent down to pick up something.

"Hell yeah!" she shouted as she cradled one of those energy weapons in her arms like a child. She then looked up at Garrus with a fake pout. Her lip started to shake as she spoke. "Can I keep it?"

The turian looked at her like she had grown another head at the sudden change of character.

Plague was doing the same, but no one could really tell so he just tilted his head. "I'm going to laugh at that later." he said as he walked past the Commander.

"Plague." he heard Shepard say as he turned to see what she wanted. "I only need one heavy weapon." she said as she switched the new weapon with the gurnade launcher on her back.

His eyes swept over the large weapon, as his hand reached for it and swipped it before she could change her mind. "Lets continue, shall we?" he asked as the new weapon was atomized.

They continude walking and Plague couldn't help but notice the slight decrease in speed as he walked. Having new weapons were good and all, but there were always downsides.

"Contacts!" Garrus shouted as the team ran for cover.

Collecters flew onto the battlefield and landed. Plague was about to aim and fire, until the same Collecter sharted glowing as it was lifted into the air.

"What the fuck?" Jack said loudly from her cover.

"I AM ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL" a bodyless voice said as the Collecter pullsed with energy as it landed on the ground. Energy built up in the pulsing bug's hand as the energy started to resemble orange fire. "THIS IS WHAT YOU FACE" the energy was launched towards Shepard who was to sheocked at the moment to move.

"Shepard!" Garrus shouted as he tackled her to the ground.

The energy exploded where Shepard had been and showed the power behind the attack in the damage to the ground and rained dirt over the ground team.

The battlefield was filled with gunfire from both the Collecters lead by the pulsing bug, and the rest of Shepard's ground team. Plague noticed Shepard pull herself together and find cover in the corner of his eye as he shot down a bug with a well placed railspike.

"IF I MUST TEAR YOU APART SHEPARD, I WILL"

Taylor Shepard POV

"Like hell you are!" the Comander shouted as she fired pot shots into the being.

'What was that? Who is talking?' she shouted to herself as she recovered from the fact that whatever it was, knew her name.

Her team quickly took down the normal collecters, but the energy filled one just walked around fireing at them as it simply took the shots. It didn't take cover, as if physical harm was irrelevant. She saw the damage, she saw it being ripped apart by the shots after they finally got it's shields down.

Once it died, it simply desolved into the air as if it didn't even exist.

"Report!" she orderd as she left her cover.

After receiving an ok from everyone, she lead them to the bunker nearby.

She was still shaking, and her heart was beating quickly, but she did a good job hiding it.

'I have to be strong.'

Kasumi Goto POV

"Kasumi." Shepard called as the door beeped when she tried to open it. "Open it, will you?"

"Got it, Shepard." she answered as she jogged to the door.

After a quick servay with her Omni-tool, she smiled. It was a basic security lock. Someone on the inside must have activated it. Unlocking it wouldn't be a problem, but it would take a minute.

The footsteps walking away from her told her the ground team was setting up a parimiter to cover her. Everyone, except for…

"Can we talk?" Plague's altered voice asked to her right, before his visor opened.

Her heart started beating fast in her chest, and she felt the warmness in her cheeks.

"I can multitask." she said before she realized that could have been an opportunity to avoid the conversation.

Plague leaned against the door with his arms crossed as he looked upwards at the sky.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened on shore leave."

'No. He knows.' she thought to herself as her heart managed to go even faster.

"What about it?" she asked quietly.

"Well…" he seemed to be looking for the right words. "…I am having trouble remembering what happened. I am a little afrade to ask, since you have been avoiding me since then."

Kasumi would have let out a large sigh of relief if it wasn't for the fact that Plague was now looking at her.

But why was he so worried about her avoiding him.

"You see, I can guess a few things…but I was hopping you could…clarify."

Her cheeks grew warmer when she realized what he was implying. That something happened, that one of them could have made a move on the other, that they at some point…

"No. no." she said a little too quickly. "Nothing happened…it just got a little…weird."

That just made Plague raise an eyebrow as he looked at her Omni-tool as if it was a way to lessen the awkwardness that had formed in the conversation.

"…well…that's better then what could have happened." he said. "Not that your not attractive…I mean." he seemed to be struggling with what he was saying. "it's just…I was also worrying that I had one of my…moments."

"Like what?" she asked, now wondering what could have been worse then waking up next to her.

'Why am I thinking that?'

"Well…" he started to scratch the tip of his nose as he looked in thought. "…I could have tried to eat you." the theif was instantly taken aback by that. And Plague must have seen it to since he continude. "I have a high tolerance to alcohol. It takes twenty times more then the average human to get me buzzed. My…condition is suppressed by my willpower and how much I could fight the temptation. I shouldn't have drinked that stuff without knowing how it could affect me." his eyes looked saddened as he looked at her. She was almost done with the door. "I have never been that far under the table. I put you in danger…and I am sorry."

'What?' she almost asked.

She should be the one apologizing. She tricked him into drinking it, she interegated him knowing full well he wouldn't remember, she betraid his trust and learned his name. Her eyes started to water, but was hidden under her hood.

She had shouted it when that red husk sent him into the platform, and caught herself since Garrus was almost right next to her. Thankfully he didn't hear over the explosion.

"No…I should have told you the right way to drink it." she blurted out as the final firewall was bypassed. Before he could say anything, she shouted to Shepard. "It's unlocked, Shepard."

Plague POV

Plague let out a deep sigh as Shepard opened the door. All of his fears had been put to rest. He wanted to ask how exactly the situation became "weird" but he thought it would have been something Kasumi would not want to talk about with the whole team in earshot. He would have to remember to ask later...he looked around the room as he heard something fall on the floor.

"Compeny." Shepard anouced as she pulled out her pistol. "Get out here. Now!"

She lowered the wepon when a human head pocked out to look at them. Almost as soon as the weapon was lowered, the man wlked out of his cover, clearly looking tired.

"Your…your human. What are you doing out here? You'll lead them right here." he said, with a hint of worry.

"I cleard a path." Shepard said with an annoyed tone. "How did the Collecters not find you?"

"Those things are Collecters?" the man asked as he started to pace. "You mean…they're real?"

"Not at all." Plague chimed in after the boredom level reach full capacity. "It was Butcher Pete knocking on your door."

Everyone one seemed to ignor the joke as the man continude. "I thought they were just made up. You know…properganda, to keep us in Aliance space." then he turned back to them. "No! They got Lillith. I saw her go down. Sten, to. They got damnear everybody!"

"What's your name?" Shepard asked as Plague started looking around the room. Everyone ells on the ground team was patient, but this, not moving, was really starting to anoy him. "What do you do here?"

"Name's, Delan. Mechanic." the man introduced himself. "I came down to check on the main grid after we lost our comm sognal. Then I heard screaming." he then started moving again and made motions with his hands to further explane what happened. "I looked outside and there was…swarms of bugs. Everyone they touched just froze. I sealed the doors."

"Could have saved some lives if some people made it in, before you closed the door to this nice bunker you got here." Plague chimed in and received a glare from the man.

"What could I have done?" he almost shouted. "I'm no soldier! I'm not even armed." Plague lifted a hand to silence him, and then used his other hand to motion to the weapons locker on the other side of the room. "Damn it…it's the Alliance's falt! They stationed that Chief Williams here and built those defense towers. It made us a target." he finished as he pointed at Plague, trying to pin the blame onto someone ells.

"This Williams, your Ashley?" Plague asked the turian next to him and received a nod. "Right. What about those defense towers? They something we can use against that beehive looking ship?"

"You'd need to calibrate the targeting system first. It's never worked right." he explained.

He saw Shepard let out a sigh full of frustration as she rubbed her temples. "Garrus. Think you could do something?"

"How about it, Mr. Calibration?" Plague asked almost a second after Shepard asked.

"I'll see what I can do." the turian answered, shrugging off the nickname given to him.

"Head for the main transmitter on the other side of the colony. It's really hard to miss." the colonist directed. "The targeting controls are at the base."

"You know the coloney, and the equipment." Shepard informed the man. "you'd better come with us."

"Not the best idea, Boss." Plague advised as he glared at the toppic. "He would get in the way."

"That's what I was thinking to." the toppic acknowledged as he activated his Omni-tool. "I'll let you out, but I'm locking the door behind you. I'm not taking any chances." to his word, a door's desplay turned green as he looked back at them. "Good luck. I think your gonna need it."

Taylor Shepard POV

"Fucking coward." Plague nearly shouted almost before the door managed to close behind them.

"He isn't a soldier." Garrus riminded as they walked.

"He still could have done something!" Shepard snapped as memories started to reappear in her mind's eye. "This is a big colony, and he is conveniently the only one within the area who thought of heading there? Bull shit."

This colony could have housed thousands. Everyone who must have gotten to the door after Dillon, must have pounded on the door, trembling, afraid, screaming. The one man who could have saved they're lives, just bunkered down to save his own skin.

"We agree then." Plague started to look towards some red lawnmowers nearby. "I understand necessary losses, but only him? Might as well gift wrapped them for the insects."

"Fucking, pussy." Jack added.

"Find cover!" Garrus shouted, silencing the conversation.

Shepard followed Garrus's weapon to the Collecters whe started to file out of the sarounding houses, along with husks.

"Open fire!" she shouted as she dived behind a railing for cover.

She heard Plague's weapon make it's shrill whistle as it launched a spike into a husk. "First stop, Hell!" he shouted as he went back behind cover.

"WE ARE HARBINGER" said that disembodied voice. "YOU CAN NOT RESISTE"

Her eyes flickered around the battlefield for the familiar firey energy, and almost got hit with the energy that sailed past her face. She felt the energy's heat across her right cheek as it slammed into one of the lawnmowers.

The divice exploded in a firey display as it's fuel ignted.

"Guess what!" she heard Plague shout as something large re atomized and replaced the small ones that vanished. "I'm resisting."

The light dimmed down to reveal a large minigun, that's barrols started spinning as he rained gunfire upon the glowing bug.

Once the Collect had enough, it dissolved like before.

"Damn glowworm." Plague shouted as he went back behind cover.

Shepard, fired a quick shot and went back into cover to replace the thermal clip. "Plague, cover fire. Kasumi, move up." she shouted.

Plague followed to the letter as Kasumi vaulted over her cover to reach the next.

As Kasumi ran, Shepard saw a large blue form step out of a house. At first she thought the mass was another mob of husks, until the form raised a hand and sent forth what looked like a biotic shockwave headed toward the black and white form running for cover.

"Kasumi!"

Kasumi Goto POV

The theif looked towards Shepard as she was running.

She couldn't hear her words over the gunfire. The Commander's, eyes were wide and slightly confused her.

'comeon, Shepard. I know what I'm doing…' her thoughts trailed off as she felt a force hit her in the right side.

Over her time as a thief, Kasumi had been hit with forms of biotics. Someone trying to catch her and suspend her in mid air, stasis field attempts, but this. The energy that hit her felt cold. A normal biotic's energy had no temperature, it was just…there. What hit her however, made her body feel as if it was ripping itself apart, as the chill made it's way to her bones. She felt frost forming on her as she slambed into a wall.

She was both dazed, and in shock, but she still had control of her slightly freezing arms. She felt like she had just skinny dipped in a freezing lake in winter.

She fired into a husk that saw her as an easy target.

Her ears ringed, her fingertips were numbing up, her skin now felt as if little needles were dancing acros her form.

The husk went down, but some of it's husk brethren saw the opening as well. They all ran at her as a mob. Her vision blurred as she barely felt the kick of the weapon firing in her hands.

At the corner of her eye, she saw everything slow down as she started to panic. Combined with her graybox, the processing of what she saw was shown to her as if the world was grinding to a halt. She made out Shepard's red, armored form with an expresion of worry, and shock as to what was happening. She saw Garrus franticly trying to get a shot on a husk in her derection, but in Kasumi's state, it appeared like his quick reloading was happening in slow motion. Jack was in the middle of yelling something as her biotics flared.

Then she realized, Plague was not slowing down…well, not as much as everything ells. He dropped his large weapon, that slowed down as it felt the pull of gravity. (Perk: Action Boy)

She saw a light forming on his arm, over his pipboy.

If she was able to think fast enough, she would have thought he was re atomizing his medic set. The light growing to envelop his form seemed to suport the theory.

She knew he wouldn't make it to her. She was going to be killed by the genetic monstrosities running for her.

She was going to die without retrieving Kaiji's graybox, she was going to die at her young age, she was going to die as the one she betrayed, was trying to save her.

Within that madness, she thought of two things. 'I failed you, Kaiji. I'm sorry, Plague.'

She couldn't held them off anymore. She saw her thermal clip eject out of her weapon and watched it freeze in mid air. Not wanting to see them get they're hands on her, she went back to look at the form covered in light.

Her eyes widened as she noticed a large object forming in his right hand, as he was covered by, what Shepard called, his heavy set.

She realized. He was not running to help her, he was running to intercept the mass of husks. The large object started to take form in his hand, as he planted a heavily armored foot into the ground. He started to spin to his right as if he was building up momentom for what was in his grip.

Within that fraction of a second that the weapon was out of her view, it reappeared with a long , sharp edge.

When it collided with the mass, the sword like weapon cut most of those in it's path in half, while at the end of it's swing, sent many of the husks flying. (Perk: Slayer)

By the end of the swing, the large sword was held in the air with one arm, as the carnage of the motion followed it to it's stopping point.

The world started to speed up again as her thermal clip started falling to the ground next to her.

Plague POV

"Kasumi!" Plague shouted with his helmet altering his voice.

He crouched down next to her as he heard the rest of the ground team cover them.

'First Purgatory, now this.'

He had failed again. He failed to protect the closest person to him in this existence. His left, gauntlet covered hand, rested on her shoulder, as his right still held his bumpersword low to the ground.

He was as close to her as possible so that his kinetic barriar would cover her.

"Kasumi!" he shouted at her again to get her to focus.

When he had reached her, she was in a daze. Since he had started shaking her, the woman finally pulled herself together as she looked at him with her hood still down.

"I…I'm fine…?" she groaned as she rested a hand on her head.

By the tone in her voice, it sounded as if she couldn't comprehend that she was safe.

Plague was about to pick her up and take her to cover, but was interepted by a force slaming into him. He lurched forward, and if he haden't dropped his sword and slammed his hand next to Kasumi to brace himself, he would have slammed into her and crushed her with the combined weight of his armor, and atomized arsenal.

The suit's hud flashed red as he was hit again by the biotic force that threated to rip him apart. He felt a chilling feeling that tingled his skin under his armor's plating. His teath grinded together as a growl excaped his mouth as he notice frost forming on his hud.

He turned to see the lumbering blue mass and instantly felt pure disgust at what he saw. The creature was constricted from many husks that had been murged together, like some horrific, cybernetic conjoined twin. The faces on it's form howled as less dominent limbs flailed around as if trying to will they're way to strangled him and those around.

Plague had seen many things in his life, but only a few of them matched up to the creature.

His limbs started to feel a little sluggish as he grasped the weapon he had dropped. He lifted the weapon above him as he saw the creature build up energy to unleash another attack. His suit added to his own strangth as he launched the weapon across the short distence before the biotic like attack could be used.

The weapon sailed through the air, and plunged into the abomination's chest. At least that's where he thought it's chest was. He just hopped he hit something vital.

In response, all of the heads howled in pain as it fell to the side and slammed into the ground.

"Fishbowl!" he heard Jack call as she moved up to cover next to him. Although, to Plague she sounded extremely iritated as her biotics flared so she could throw a husk into a Collecter. "Stay the Fuck down!"

He would have made a little quib to mess with her, but the cold still stung his flesh. If it wasn't for his power armor, he would have been in the same dazed state as Kasumi.

After Plague took out the large husk, it didn't take long for the rest of the ground team to pick off the straglers.

Next to him, he saw Kasumi fight to load a thermal clip into her gun as she tried to pull herself up. She looked like she was freezing. Her arms were shivering as and made her drop the thermal clip.

Plague instantly felt concerned. He lifted her chin so that he could see her eyes. She looked extremely tired. Her eyes looked at him but showed some confusion.

Plague had seen many ailments. A severed leg, loss of an eye, burns, broken ribs that puctured the lungs they were supposed to be protecting. He had served with the Brotherhood of Steel, and had to remove dented and shredded metal that mangled the limbs it covered. He had served as both a Ranger, and a Field Medic for the NCR, but what he saw, slightly confused him.

He had read about other illnesses and such brought on by the cold, but the Wasteland didn't have snow where he had traveled. The closist he had ever came to a freezing temperature was from the simulation of Operation Anchorage, that happened before the bombs fell.

He had to pretend to be a normal marine in the program or ells he would have been trapped. 101 had needed to treat a soldier program as if he was a real person.

("I…I…tried, Sir…" the program stammered as simulated, but deadly, gunfire sailed through the air.

Plague was crouched over the illusion as he ripped the form's pant leg to treat the fake bullet wound that was seeping blood. Plague knew it was all fake, but he felt the blood on his hands, he felt the simulated hunger that grew in his system.

The machine he was in, would keep him alive, but it was made to give him as close to a realistic experience as possible.

To him, it felt as if he went a few days with only rationed MRE's that were devided between him, and the programs in his squad.

Over the few days he had been in the machine, he developed a hatered for the programs around him. He knew he would be in there for days.

It was a waste of food to him. Why should he starve so the programs could live.

'They aren't fucking alive!' he thought to himself as he opened his field kit. 'That food should be mine!'

He took a quick glance at the other six in his squad. They surrounded him in the foxhole that provided cover for them and himself. Some were reloading as others fired out of the cover the hole provided.

His thoughts went back to the man. The warm wetness of the blood on his hands, were replaced by the cold seeing it as a chance to freeze them.

Plague was confused. The "man" showed medical signs that he didn't know. Why he continude to try and save him? He didn't even know himself.

He wanted them all to die so he could take all the MRE's for himself to survive, but he felt…compelled by his medical curiosity to find out what was wrong.

By night fall, the program went to sleep and never woke up.

He later found out what it was. Hyperthermia.)

"Kasumi!" Plague shouted as the woman in question started to doze off. "Stay awake!"

He lightly patted her cheeks to keep her awake, as his heavy set was replaced with his stealth suit, that's material quickly warmed him up, and his duster in his hands that he then covered her with.

"I'm…fine." Kasumi anounced groggily as she used the section of wall next to her to get up, along with Plague's assistence. "I'm fine. Just a little…winded."

Plague didn't by it. Each word she said, had to be forced through her shivering. Her grip tightened on the old duster on her shoulders to try to get as much warmth out of it as possible. But, thankfully she didn't look as bad as she did on Purgatory.

"Kasumi." Shepard hailed as the team approached. "Hang back with Garrus. You took a big hit."

"I…fine, Shepard." she protested. "I…just need a b…breather."

"Sorry, but we don't have time for that." the Commander pointed out as she walked bast them. "Close formation. Garrus, and Kasumi. Hang back."

Plague could clearly see the thief didn't like the idea, but she followed the order.

Before 101 started walking, a talon tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to react by drawing a knife that stopped two inches from the targeted turian's eye.

"Sorry, Garrus." he apologized as he atomized the knife he almost killed his teammate with. "Have to admit, not a lot of friendly's here have talons."

Garrus had been frozen in place, but once he saw the knife disappear, he relaxed. "Understandable." he then passed Plague's mini-gun forward.

He almost forgot. Both the weapon in Garrus's hands, and the bumper sword atomized as Plagues shotgun appeared in his hands.

They both then sprinted to catch up to their Commander.

"I thought we'd run across more of those frozen colonists." Kasumi said aloud, but still shivering. Plague looked back to her to see she now had her arms through the duster's sleeves and a few of the button's, buttoned. Clearly she still felt cold. "Not that I'm complaining."

"Sadly, they must have already been loaded onto the ship." Plague answered back.

Plague felt a little chill, and it wasn't from that large husk's attack.

Taylor Shepard POV

Thinking of something to name the large husk firing shockwaves at her, Shepard went behind cover after she had sent a smaller husk into the ground.

"Garrus! Shoot that Scion!" she ordered the turian, who was behind a container, taking pot shots on the normal husks with Kasumi covering him.

"The what?" Garrus shouted back as a husk's head was blown off.

"THE BIG ONE!" Shepard yelled as she lifted another husk.

Almost as soon as Garrus put 2 and 2 together, he started firing round after round into the blue being.

"Plague!" she then shouted to the man taking cover next to her. He had replaced that old shotgun, with a survice rifle. "Cover, Jack!"

Jack was taking cover on the other side of the area in the back of a truck, seneding out shockwaves wildly at anything near her.

"Yes, Boss!"

Shepard fired over cover at the same time as him, almost right as Garrus finished off the seconed scion. The first was taken out with a little biotic cooperation, between Jack, and herself. Ending result, truck ontop of said Scion.

Shepard's heavy pistol fired into the last Scion, who was one of the only threats on the battlefield.

Once it went down, and Shepard did a quick sweep, she saw that all hostiles in the aerea had been delt with.

"Converge on the transmitter!"

"The antenna looking thing?" asked the man to her left. Instead of answering, Shepard shot Plague a stern look. "Yes, Boss." he said quickly as he vaulted over cover.

Kasumi and Garrus made it there first and quickly started working together to get it working.

After getting a thumbs…talons up, Shepard activated her comm as she reached the group. "Normandy? Do you copy?"

Almost instantly, a voice was heard on all of their comms. "Joker here. Signal's weak, Commander, but we got you."

Letting out a sigh of releif, she looked to the rest of the ground team. Garrus and Jack were keeping watch, and Plague looked like he was checking on Kasumi, who looked really exhausted. "Anything on the second ground team?"

"Yes, Commander." Joker acknowledged. "They are close to your position, but the signal is still terrible where they are."

"Alright. EDI, bring the defence towers online." Shepard ordered as she rolled her shoulders. It had been a long day, and she couldn't wait to take a nice warm shower.

It didn't take long for the A.I. to respond. "Errors in the calibration software are easily rectified, but it will take time to bring the towers to full power." Shepard felt a minr headache coming on as she heard that. "I recommend a defensive posture. I will not be able to mask the increased generater output."

"God forbid, we get it easy." she then rolled her eyes. "We'll defend the transmitter."

"Enemy reinforcments closing in. I suggest you ready weapons." the A.I. anounched.

"ASSUMING CONTROL OF THIS FORM" Shepard felt a chill run down her spine as she heard that voice.

Looking up, she saw dozens of Collecters appearing on the battle field, lead by Harbinger. She also saw more husks swarming into the area.

"WE ARE THE HARBINGER OF YOUR DESTINY" the glowing Collecter anounced as he threw an energy blast towords them.

"Hit the deck!" Garrus shouted.

The blast barely missed Kasumi's head, and hit a container.

"Open fire!" Shepard ordered, even though no one really waited for her to say so.

She lifted a Collecter into the air, and the threw it towards Harbinger. The smirk she had on her face, vanished as the firery insect just fired at it's own ally. The power of the blast burned the Collecter alive and disintegrated it before it could hit it's intended target.

"KILL ONE, AND A HOUNDRED WILL REPLACE IT"

Garrus Vakarian POV

The former C-Sec fired his assalt rifle into the oncoming husks with Plague to his left, and Kasumi to his right.

"Hold formation!" he heard Shepard shout as he gunned down another husk, and noticed Plague kill the clossest Collecter.

Harbinger sent blast, after blast at them, and each one was close enough for them to feel the heat.

"Jack! Warp that bastard!" Garrus yelled to the bald biotic.

"One fucking minute!" the convict yelled as a Collecter was ripped in half with biotics.

A biotic warp was then fired at harbinger, and punchered a hole in It's body. Garrus was about to compliment the handy work, until he relized that the attack didn't faze it. The burning Collecter continued walking towards them as another energy blast was fired they're way.

As the attack decimated the container behind them, Garrus almost didn't hear EDI anounce that the GARDIAN anti-ship batteries were at 40%.

"Hurry the fuck up already!" Plague yelled as he planted a kick to the chest of one husk that got too close.

EDI then announced that the batteries were now at 60%.

Garrus let out a sigh as Harbinger disintegrated.

"Have I said how much a hate that guy?" Plague asked as he fired at one of the last Collecters.

"Finally." Garrus said as he took down the last Collecter.

As he looked over the battlefield for another target, he felt burning in his left arm.

"WE ARE HARBINGER" the new Harbinger anounced as he tightend the grip on Garrus's arm.

'He must have landed when the last Harbinger died.' Garrus thought as he let out a growl of pain.

Before he could try to hit the being with his rifle, it threw him back. The force of the throw almost made him black out when he hit the pulverized container.

Plague POV

"Garrus!" Plague shouted as he emptyed a clip into Harbinger's head at point blank.

He thought he was doing damage until an arm swatted the weapon out of his hands, and another grabbed him by the neck and lifted him.

The touch burned at his throat as he kicked the bug franticly. He was trying to force it to let go with his hands, but only succeded in making then burn as well.

"Adam!" a female voice shouted nearby, over the gunfire that almost made it impossible to hear.

Plague's eyes bulged in his helmet as his ripper re atomized in his left hand.

'No one should know that name!' he raised the weapon high as it's engine revved up. 'No one, but Sarah should know that name!'

Before he could bring the weapon down to saw off the limb crushing his windpipe, Harbinger's second arm grabbed his.

"YOU SHOULD NOT EXIST" Harbinger said as his remaining two glowing eyes burrowed into him. "YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE WITHIN THIS REALITY" his grip tightened on his hand, crushing bones, making him drop the ripper. "THIS ERRER WILL BE RECTIFIED"

Plague screamed as energy was sent into him. The raw power burned at his covered flash.

Kasumi and the others had been there the whole team fireing into Harbinger, but had trouble getting through his shields.

Plague felt the power surge into his brain, making him unable to comand his pipboy to diliver aid.

"I AM KROGAN!" a voice shouted as a large mass slammed into both Plague, and Harbinger.

The large mass then aimed a large shotgun at harbinger as they all hit the ground. Without skipping a beat, the shotgun fired and practicly made the Collecter's head explode. Half a second later, the rest of the body disintegrated.

Plague felt the harmful energy flew cease as his mind started to clear. He coughed painfully as his hands went to his throat.

Kasumi Goto POV

"Plague!" Kasumi shouted as she ran over to him.

Jacob crouched down and helped her treat the wounds.

His stealth suit was burned, and she could make out burned flesh where the suit had been burned away. She managed to get him into a sitting position as she applied medi-gel to the burns on his neck.

"Are you alright?" she asked in a bit of a panic. "Your lucky, Grunt showed…" she went silent when Plague grabbed her hand, and brought it away from his neck.

"How do you know my name?" Plague strained to ask as loud as he could.

His visor opened, and Kasumi flinched when she saw his bloodshot eyes, along with a badly bleeding nose.

It wasn't just how he looked that got to her, it was mostly do to the question that had been asked.

"I…" she didn't know what to say.

Before she could even think of a proper answer, Plague's eyes closed as he blacked out.

"What does he mean?" Jacob, who had been quiet, asked.

The rest of the ground team were treating their own wounds over by the transmitter, well out of earshot.

"I…It's not important." she answered as she mentaly prepaird for Plague's reaction later.

Taylor Shepard POV

"Report." Shepard ordered as Zaeed walked up.

"We found some colonists, but that's about it over 'ere, Shepard." he explained as he looked over his assalt rifle. "A few bugs. Nothing big."

"Shepard." Jacob called from a container where he and Kasumi had been treating Plague. "Plague's out cold, Commander."

"Take care of him. Kasumi, you to." she ordered as she looked at the transmitter.

Kasumi seemed to be the closest to a friend Plague had on the ship, so it would be a good idea for her to watch him.

"Incoming!" Jacob shouted causing everyone to look where he was pointing.

A large, gray form was flying towards them from the Collecter ship, and it was coming fast.

"Kasumi, Jacob, get Plague to safety." she ordered as she pulled out her newest weapon. "Everyone else, find cover!"

The large, buglike machine hit the ground hard when it landed. It had four legs, and like the Collecters, had four eyes that seamed to be a blue color. It roared at the ground team, and once it's large maw opened, it reaveiled many husk heads, that all seemed to be looking at them.

"Spread out, and open fire!" Shepard ordered as she fired the particle beam weapon into the creature's eye.

The rest of the team peppered it with rounds as it lifted itself off of the ground to hover.

"Concussive shots!" Shepard shouted as the whole team scattered as the hostile let loose an energy beam-like attack. "EDI, we need that system online!"

From her cover behind another container, Shepard could see Kasumi, covering Jacob as he used his biotics to lift Plague. That was probably the fastest way to move him with his gear.

The creature fired another beam towards Jack, and Zaeed's cover behind the container Harbinger had be decimating.

Shepard looked to her left and saw Garrus treating his arm next to her.

"Hit it with everything!" she ordered as she fired her oun beam at the monster.

It almost had no effect on those kenetic barriers, but she could see a little progress.

Along with her oun particle beam fire, concussive shots rained on the creature as the telltale blue warps hit it on it's left side. Clearly Jack, who's warps looked a little less stable, but powerful.

"Jack. Keep it up!" Garrus shouted, as he looked over the cover once his arm was treated with fresh medi-gel.

"GARDIAN anti-ship batteries at 100%" EDI anounced. "I have control."

"Took your damn time!" the Commander remarked as the giant bug slammed into the ground in an atempt to crush Jack, and Zaeed.

The defence towers fired at the hive ship with pinpount accuracy, due to EDI's aiming.

"I need a thermal clip!" Garrus said as he ducked back in cover.

That was not good. Shepard's new heavy weapon was needed, and she only had one extra she was ready to use when the one she was using needed to be ejected.

And almost as if reading her mind, the clip ejected.

She insurted the fresh one as she thought of an idea. "Take my pistol's clip!"

As soon as she said that, she felt Garrus take the weapon from her hip to salvage the thermal clip he needed for his own rifle.

Nothing was heard, but the sounds of controlled bursts and biotic warps for the next few seconds.

With one final combined warp between her, and Jack, the creature dissolved into nonexistence with a blue display.

"Right on your ass!" Grunt yelled.

At the same time, the Collecter ship's engiens powered up, sending dirt and dipris flying as the team was hit with the wave of dirt.

"Their leaving!" Kasumi shouted over the noise.

"Damnit!" Shapard cursed as she covered her face so the dust wouldn't go in her eyes. "They got the colonists!"

The dust settled down once the ship was in a higher atmosphere. Shepard watched as the Collecters got away with the unfortinute colonists that had been loaded onto the ship. The fear that must be going through them. Unaware of their destination, unaware of the reason they had been abducted, unaware of their fate.

Shepard felt her haert ach. She let them down. Ashley was probably on the ship as well.

She was like a sister to her.

"No! Don't let them get away!" a familiar voice shoued, followed by rushed footsteps.

Turned out, the voice belonged to the mechanic who had just recently decided to leave the safety of his bunker.

"We can't do anything…" Shepard said as she felt her eyes watering again for the second time that day.

"Half the colony is in there! They took Egan and Sam and…and Lilith. Do something!"

"I…I can't." she shot back as the first tears fell. Shaking her head, she repeated. "I can't…"

"You did all you could, Shepard." Kasumi said as she walked up to the group, Jacob carrying Plague behind her with biotics.

The mechanic paused and then faced them. "Shepard? Wait. I know that name." he seemed to nod to himself as he looked at Shepard, who was hanging her head so no one would see her. "Sure, I remember you. Your some type of Alliance hero."

"Commander Shepard." a voice said that took the woman in question by surprise. As she slowly looked up, her tears started to flow freely. "Captian of the Normandy." Ashley continude as she walked into view. She wore some heavy Phoenix armor. She could have sworn Ash had better armor then that the last time she saw her. The marine looked at her with a smile on her face. "The first human Spectre. Savier of the Citedel." she then looked over to Delan. "Your in the pressince of a god Delan. Back from the dead."

"All the good people we lost, and you get left behind. Figures." Delan then gave them all a dismissive wave as he started walking, as if the wave would make them disappear somehow.

Shepard didn't pay attention to the last thing the mechanic said. She was preoccupied trying to comprehend that one of her closest friends were alive, and stepping towards her.

Ashley held her hand out to shake hers as she spoke. "I thought you were dead, Commander. We all did." after a second of silence, Ashley tilted her head as she looked at Shepard's face. "You alright, Skipper?"

Right as she used Shepard's old nickname, Shepard quickly closed the gap and wrpped her arms around the shocked Alliance marine in her grip.

"It…it's soo good to see…you Ashley." she sobbed as her face went into Ash's shoulder, quickly soaking the armor that covered it. "I…missed you."

Flashes of when she saw Tali on Freedoms Progress, and when she found out Garrus was Archangel flashed in her head as she tightened her grip. It felt so good to finally be with another one of her old friends.

Tali's squad almost shot her, and back on Omega Garrus accidentally fired his sniper rifle at the wall next to him. Both knew how she was around friends, but none of them expected her welcome.

"Ok…ok!" Ashley said as she tried to pry her old Commander off of her. She barely managed to get her off, and even then, Shepard still was holding both of Ashley's hands between them. "Turn off the waterworks." Ashley begged after a short laugh. "Why didn't you contact me? Why didn't you let me know you were alive?" she asked as a bit as sadness showed itself on her face, and in her voice.

"I…I was dead…for two years." Shepard sobbed as she tightened her grip on ash's hands. "I wanted to…but everyone moved on with their lives…I didn't know what to do…"

"I moved on…" Ashley began to say as if agreeing with what Shepard had said. Just as suddenly, the tone in her voice, and the look of sadness returned. "…but here you are; pulling me back in." she then pulled her hands out of Shepard's. "And now we've got reports about you and Cerberus." she sounded as if she had just caught her friend buying red sand in a shady neiborhood.

"Reports?" Garrus asked as he walked up to the two. "you mean you already knew?"

"Alliance intel said Cerberus could be behind our missing colonies. We got a tip that this one could be the next to get hit." she informed. "I went to Anderson, but he wouldn't talk. But there where rumors that you weren't dead." Ashley's eyes then narrowed as she looked at Shepard. "Worse; that you were working with the enemy."

"Our colonies are disappearing." Shepard pleaded. "The Alliance turned it's back on them. Cerberus is the only group doing something about it."

"Bullshit!" Ashley retorted harshly. "I know what Cerberus is like. They talk about putting humans first, but at what cost?" Shepard could see her old friend fighting back tears as she continude. "I wanted to believe that you were still alive…I just never expected anything like this. You've turned your back on everything we stood for!"

The sudden harshness in her voice made Shepard take a step back. She couldn't believe Ashley thought she would do such a thing. "Ash, you know me. You know I'd only do this for the right reason." Shepard begged, franticly hoping she would understand. "You saw it. The Collecters are targeting human colonies. And they're working with the Reapers!"

"I'd like to believe you, Shepard. But I don't trust Cerberus. And it worries me that you do. What did they do to you?" she asked, still with a hostile tone. "What if they're behind it? What if they're the ones working with the Collecters?"

"Damn it Williams." Garrus started, thankfully giving Shepard time to get over the fact that one of her best friends wouldn't belive what she said. "Your so focused on Cerberus that your ignoring the real threat!"

"It's me Ash!" Shepard started to sob, but she held it back mid sentence. "And it's the Reapers working with the Collecters! Please. Listen to me!"

"Or maybe you feel like you owe Cerberus because they saved you. Maybe it's you." Ashley's eyes narrowed again. "Doesn't matter… I still know where my loyalties lie. I'm an Alliance soldier. It's in my blood." she then began to turn away from Shepard as she finished. "I'm reporting back to the Citedel. I'll let them decide if they believe your story."

Shepard couldn't belive what she was hearing. Her friend was leaving her, abandoning her. "Ash, Please! It's me. Cerberus does not control me, Ashley. Please don't go!"

"I want to belive that, Taylor." ash said as she looked back at the woman who saw her as a sister. "I'm sorry, but your in too deep. Good luck."

As Ashley went out of view, Shepard looked on in disbeilef.

'How could she not listen? How could she say such things?'

She refusde to turn to her ground team. She didn't want them to see her in the state she was in.

Garrus tried to look her in the eyes, but she quickly turned away as she hailed Joker. "Send the shuttle to pick us up…I want to get as far away from here as possible…"

I always liked Ashley, even if i never picked her as a romance option.

This was kind of a sad chapter in a few places. The game never said what really happened when Shepard's colony was attacked. I hope I typed in a good scene.

Anyway the question for this chapter is "What's the name of the song Plague was playing?

See you later friends.


	13. Chapter 13 Taxing Rage

Damn it is taking me way too long to get these chapters out.

Anyway the question was "What's the name of the song Plague was playing?"

Answer is "Way Back Home" by - Bob Crosby and The Bobcats.

Winner is The Wolf. Spartan-093

this song was not in Fallout 3. Just saying to clear it up. It was on Fallout new Vegas.

By the way some people have been asking me what the red tesla armor looked like. So i found the picture that inspired me. copy and paste the link to find out what it looks like. And no i don't think this armor is in the game. I'm guessing the guy's a modder.

fs38/f/2008/316/1/b/Fallout_3_Tesla_Armor_Reskin_by_

The Wildcard

Chapter 13

Shepard's eyes narrowed when she saw The Illusive Man's holographic appearance.

She still had on her hard suit that showed recent damages when her shields had gone down. First thing she did once she got on the ship was order Joker to call TIM as she made sure Plague was getting looked over by Chawkwas.

Her hands went into a fist as she stormed past Miranda.

Tim put on what, Shepard assumed was an amused, and expecting smile. She felt as if he thought he had full control over what she was doing.

"Shepard." he started. "Good work on Horizon. Hopefully, the Collectors will think twice before…"

"Shut it!" Shepard snapped as she pointed a finger aimed right at him. "You know more then what you are saying." she shouted as her eyes drilled into the holograms. "You tipped the Alliance about me. What did you fucking tell them?"

The man let out an annoyed sigh before he spoke. "I released a few carefully disguised rumors that you might be alive and working for Cerberus."

"What?" Shepard shouted as her biotics pulsed with rage. "I don't work for you!" she could have sworn she saw red for a second as she spoke. "Get this through your damn thick skull. I being here has nothing to do with my career choices. You brought me back, and for that I am slightly grateful, but I don't roll over for you like some dog begging for a treat. I command this ship, I make the decisions, and I fight for the lost! You need me here to do what you are afraid to, what you can not." her biotics started to die down as she vented. "You may pay the bills on this ship, but last I checked you don't own me."

A flicker of annoyance appeared in his eyes, only to then be replaced with his analyzing gaze.

"You seem to have forgotten something." a slight smirk showed itself as he continued. "I'm the one with the info. Like I have said before, Sheppard. We don't have to get along; you just have to be ready to do what you do. I suspected the Collectors were looking for you, or people connected to you. Now I know for certain."

Questions answered themselves as Shepard's eyes widened in shock. It was clear what Tim did. He was using Ashley as bait for the Collectors. And at the same time, he had turned Ash against her.

He may have found a way to lure out the enemy, but at the same time he was alienating her from the Alliance, cutting her old connections. He was trying to convert her, turn her into some stray that he could put a leash on to call his own.

The thought sickened her.

"It was a risk, but I couldn't just wait for them to take another colony. You understand."

"You had no right to choose who would be abducted, nor do you have the right to put Ashley, or any of my friends in harms way." the biotic lectured as she fixed him with a glare.

Tim returned the glare, but other then that; there were no changes in his expression. "We have to keep the pressure on the Collectors. They'll be more cautious with their ground operations, so we need another opening." he explained as he used the ashtray on his armrest. "I'm devoting all resources to finding a way through the Omega 4 relay. We have to hit them where they live." he then took in another drag before speaking again. "Your team will need to be strong…as well as their resolve. There's no looking back. The same goes for you. Can I assume you've put your past relationships behind you?"

"That's none of your damn business." she answered, feeling her rage boiling.

"If it affects the mission, better you should leave it behind." Tim advised.

"You would like that, wouldn't you?"

There was a small silence as they both shot each other a glare.

"Shepard. Once we find a way through the Omega 4 relay to the Collector homeworld…there's no guarantee you'll return." he explained. "To have any hope of surviving, you - and your team - must be fully committed to this."

"You just find us a way to the Collector homeworld." Shepard growled as she turned to leave the room.

Before she made it out of the holographic platform, Tim spoke up.

"I've forwarded three new dossiers. Keep building your team while I find a way threw the relay…" she didn't hear the rest when she cut the signal.

Kasumi Goto POV

The Japanese woman sat in a chair next to Plague, who was resting. He had been taken out of his stealth suit, and now wore the blue medical fatigues she herself had worn almost two weeks ago after he had saved her life.

She watched as his chest rose slowly as he breathed in, and lowers once he exhaled. For some reason Kasumi thought he looked peaceful, but once she remembered whey he was here in the Med Bay, her smile vanished as she pulled her hood down to cover her face more.

Chawkwas was at her desk, working on what looked like a blood sample. She had been working there for quite a while, and would take a quick glance every once in a while to check on Plague's condition.

"He will be alright." the doctor reassured when she noticed her patient's quarrian mask like helmet in Kasumi's lap. "He's only been her for a few hours, and he's already almost at a 100%."

"I know." Kasumi agreed as she took another glance to the topic of the conversation.

Plague looked a lot better. The blood had been cleaned away from where he had been bleeding. He not only bled from his nose, but his ears as well. His burns were bandaged once they had been cleaned, and treated with medi-gel.

Kasumi was drawn to Plague's closed eyes. She both wished he would wake up, and wished that he wouldn't. She wanted him to sleep for two reasons. One was when she saw him relaxed and in piece, it somehow lifted her spirits.

The second reason though was out of fear. Fear for how he would take the fact that she knew his name, the fact that she had betrayed him.

"I'm sorry." she whispered so the doctor wouldn't hear her. She felt tears forming as her hand tightened on the man's helmet, her other hand holding onto the front of her hood as if to hide herself from his none existent gaze. "I…just needed to know. I wanted to make sure…you were telling me the truth." she looked down at the helmet in her lap, its reflective visor showing her what she was hiding from Plague. "I don't know why I didn't just trust you. You saved my life…not many people…well…besides Shepard, would save a thief like myself…I was so surprised when EDI told me what happened…you being my actual knight in shining armor…" she stopped a chuckle that almost escaped her. She took another glance towards Plague to make sure he was still asleep, and then looked over to Chawkwas, who was still working. "What was that you said while I was recovering? 'The unworthy shouldn't look upon perfection?'" a warm smile slowly started to form as she recalled the memory. "Not many people have actually seen my face…so…when I came down to thank you…I took a chance…The less people who know what I looked like, the lower are my chances of being found by those I have stolen from, and most unlikely I would be picked out of a lineup." her cheeks grew warmer as she made sure the coast was clear. "I showed you how I looked without the hood…and you smiled at me…and …treated me like a friend…I…should have just believed you…"

The tears flowed as she got out of her seat and placed the helmet on the chair.

She had to leave the room.

"Call me when he wakes up, Please." she said to the doctor as she walked out the door with her hood pulled down.

Garrus Vakarian POV

"Spirits…" Garrus groaned as he rolled his stiff shoulders.

His back ached from when he was thrown at the container by Harbinger.

'I've been charged by krogan clones on two occasions, attacked by mutated plant zombies, and rachni, and even survived being in the backseat of the Mako with Shepard at the wheel, and that throw still hurts like a bitch.' he thought to himself as he worked on the screen before him.

"We weren't ready for that." he said out load.

"Agreed." said a female voice behind him.

"Oh. Shepard, I didn't hear you come in." he welcomed as he looked over his shoulder.

Shepard had gotten out of her armor, and the smells of shampoo his sensitive nose picked up, told him she had just came out of a shower.

She now had on some brown casual clothing. He had seen other humans wear similar clothing in his time in C-Sec. Mostly colonists though.

"You need something, Shepard?" he asked after she sat down on the small crate she often used as a chair.

What was in the crate though…he didn't really know. It had been sitting there since he rejoined Shepard, and it seemed to just…what's that human saying? 'Blend into the woodwork? No that can't be it.'

"No." she answered as she went into a thinking pose. "Just wanted somewhere to think, if you don't mind?"

"About what?" Garrus asked once he noticed the annoyed tone in her voice.

"You know, Timmy trying to crack the metaphorical whip, and what not." she explained as she ran some fingers through her hair as she put it in a ponytail with her dark hair braid. "On Horizon he used Ash as live bait."

"What?" Garrus snapped, yelling louder then he intended in the small space.

Garrus's eyes filled with rage as he started to walk away from his terminal.

"You heard me." Shepard replied as she got up herself. "He even told the Alliance "I" worked for him!"

"What does he have to gain?" Garrus growled as he started to pace in the small room, his talons flexing.

"I can make a few guesses." she said as she made sure her hair was in the right position. "Thought you should know, since he likes putting my friends on fishing hooks."

"Remember when you picked me up?" Garrus asked, receiving a questioning look.

He let out a sigh. Sure Shepard was a good Commander and strategist, but she didn't pay attention some times. It's as if there was some kind of skip button she would rapidly push every once in a while to get past some conversations. How Liara could put up with her was beyond him.

"Something about us, being in the belly of the beast, right?" Shepard asked, shocking Garrus.

"That reminds me. Have you gotten a hold of Liara?" he asked, instantly regretting it.

Shepard's look went right to sadness once she heard the name. She looked like how she did when she looked at those empty homes of the colonists.

"Shepard…" he started to apologies, but was signaled to stop as the human sat back on the mystery box.

"I…" she started as she looked down at her feet. "Ashley…I hurt her…" she then took a quick glance up at him and looked back down. "When I…died…I hurt all of you."

"It wasn't your fault…" he comforted her as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

She was right though. Back on the Citadel they used her image on billboards for enlisting. Every time he saw one, he was reminded of Liara's reaction to seeing Shepard's body from the escape pod.

(The space in the pod was small, but it was big enough to fit ten people each. Liara's sorrow filled the space as she fell to her knees right after Garrus had turned her away as he watched her love, and his friend suffocate with his avian eyes. Shepard's red Colossus armor made it easy for her to be spotted.

He had run into Liara in engineering, where he was helping Tali evacuate the other engineers.

Wrex was in another pod with Ashley where Garrus knew that if he saw Shepard, he would watch her until she disappeared out of respect for her as a fellow worrier.

"What's wrong?" Tali asked as she got out of her seat to walk towards the window.

"Sit back down, Tali!" Garrus ordered the young quarian.

"Why? What's wrong…"she went silent once she realized what would make Liara react the way she was. "…no…Keelah…"

She tried to push Garrus out of the way, but he blocked her view.

He knew that Shepard wouldn't want them seeing her like this, grasping for life only for it to be taken out of her reach like death was playing some twisted game she had no choice in playing.

He had already felt like he had failed her since Liara was the first one to notice her.

'I'm sorry Shepard.')

"Liara wasn't the same after you died…" Garrus explained as he lowered himself on one knee to get to her level. "If anyone can bring her back…it's you."

"Your right…" she said back. "It's just…what do I say?" she looked up at him with tears forming in her eyes, but with enough control to stop them from going any further. "How…do I know…she wouldn't just hate me for leaving her? What if…she moved on? What if she found…"

Garrus hated to see his friend like this, and knew where she was going with this train of thought.

"Don't think like that." he said simply as he made her look in his eyes. "I know you. You will pull through. You always do."

Garrus could see her messing with her hands, and for a second, he was reminded of Tali.

The room went quiet for a few moments until Shepard got of of the makeshift chair.

"Thanks Garrus." she thanked quietly after she started walking towards the door. "I…really needed that…"

Plague POV

("A bit foreboding, isn't it?" Plague asked Wernher.

He was talking about the seen around them. Cliff walls on both sides, train tracks with toppled train cars around, slave corpses amongst the carcasses of their former slavers.

When 101 agreed to go to the Pitt, he didn't expect to see the sight before him.

"Remember: your goal is to get access to Ashur and find the cure…" the one eyed, leather jacket wearing man next to him reminded before he was cut off.

"…And after I have it, you'll contact me." 101 said as he put the finishing touches on his disguise.

He was dressing himself in one of the fallen slaves torn rags, every item on his person atomized, besides an army knife he tide to his side, under the shirt's remains with a ripped piece of cloth from another shirt.

His pipboy was wrapped in a bundle of dirty cloth, and with luck, he could pass it off as an injury. He also needed to be light, so he stored the rest of his beloning back in Megaton, making him as heavy as a normal human being.

The clothing smelled to high heaven. Although he knew it wasn't because its previous owner was dead when he got it.

"Alright. Are you sure you know what to do?" Wernher asked as he opened the gate.

"Go in. Find, Midea." 101 told the plan once he was finished. He looked like a dirty rat now, and the smell made him twitch his nose. He would have to quickly get used to it sadly. "But, how do I know I can trust you?"

"I am all you got." the man answered as the vault dweller walked past him.

"If this is a trap, I'll happily dig a hole…" he then looked back at the man with his almost gray eyes, making him feel uncomfortable under his predatory gaze. "…and put you in it.")

Plague's head turned sharply to his right on the medical bad, the sudden movement making the nearby doctor jump in her seat out of fright.

(The bridge before him had a some what dark look to it. The frames of cars littered the length, showing just how desperately the humans who had been within trying to escape the blast from the bombs. Some were piled on top of each other, some on its side or upside down. Some even had sections of the car missing.

All rubber from the tires had vanished over the years, only to show off the rims that they had been covering in the cars prime. Paint either pealed or by some other means showed the rust.

The image bugged him. Not just because it showed how man had fallen, but the feeling of being in the open. He could easily be picked off by some sniper in the remains of the buildings around him.

He already felt soreness in the back of his throat from inhaling the small amount of radioactively poisoned dust being carried by the breeze. How people lived her astounded him.

As he took his first few steps onto the structure that separated him from the abyss, he lowered himself as low as he could to make as much use of the cover the wreckage around him provided.

The progress was slow, but he had a feeling that if he hurried any further, he would regret it.

Almost half an hour had passed when he reached the center of the bridge. He was about to climb over a car's hood until he was stopped by the sound of an animal behind him.

He instantly recognized the sound. Dogmeat made it while he attacked something almost on a daily basis. Of course it couldn't have been Dogmeat.

101 turned and was barely able to lift up an arm before it was clamped down on by sharp teeth. The force of the impact the mutt made, sent 101 to the ground with the dog right on top of him, it's head shaking side to side violently with his arm in it's mouth.

101 winced as he hit the chipped concrete underneath him. The ripped remains of the slave's cloths didn't provide much protection. He instantly wished he had on one of his power armors.

"Fuck!" he shouted as another set of teeth ripped into his leg.

His free left leg kicked the hound as his free hand went for the first dog's neck.

He felt the second dog let go to bite at the boot clad foot that had been kicking it. 101 gave up on trying to strangle the dog on him, and quickly without warning, pushed forward in the same direction the hound was pulling his arm.

The quick motion took the dog by surprise and made its head smack into the car door next to it. The damage only seemed to make it try to bite down harder. Before it could however, 101 grabbed the snout while the now freed hand grabbed the bottom jaw. With all the strength he could use at that moment, he pulled them apart, making the dog's mouth open farther then it was supposed to. With a sickening crack, the dog went lifeless and collapsed on top of the human it had been attacking.

Now that both his arms were free, he pushed the dead weight off of him and pried the second dog's snout open. He then jerked its head sharply to the side, breacking the neck.

The victory was short lived however; when he tried to stand he heard a new growl. On top of the car he was about to climb over earlier, stoop a dog, snarling at him. As it jumped off of the car, 101 reacted quickly and grabbed it by the neck and threw the dog to the side in an attempt to throw it off of the bridge.

The small trace of a smirk on his face was replaiced by a look of panic as he heard beeping in the direction of the dog he had thrown.

His eyes widened as adrenalin not from his pipboy flowed through him.

The dog landed on a mine.)

*THUMP*

Chakwas readied the paddles again once she realized there was no improvement.

"Whats going on?" Shepard almost shouted with Garrus not far behind as they walked into the sickbay.

"He's going into cardiac arrest." the docter answered as she looked up at the screen.

Only a line showed.

"I thought he was ok." the comander said as she quickly walked forward to help.

Plague's shirt had been lifted to allow acces to his chest.

"He just started flat lining…Clear!" Plague's form jumped as the electricity was sent into him.

The man let out a loud yell as pain shot through his form.

"What the hell?" Shepard said as everyone took a step back.

Plague shot up with a gasp as he fell off of the bed. He landed on the floor on his hands and knees as, what everyone their assumed was; another zap of electricity tore into him. Plague's eyes opened as wide as he could as he looked at one of his hands, which started to atomize before his eyes.

"No…" Plague groaned as he felt his atoms ripped apart, and then pieced together.

His pipboy started to beep, but he ignored it as he grasped the hand's wrist as hard as he could.

Taylor Shepard POV

Plague was on the ground before Shepard, with a look of disbilief mixed with what looked like a large quantity of pain.

"No…" she heard him say as if the hand he held in a deathgrip had done something.

"Plague?" she called out as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

The cantact made the man turn to her, and in one fluid motion, draw his hand across her face.

She instantly put a hand to the cheek Plague had slapped, pain serging from the spot and throughout the rest of her face.

"Bloody hell!" she yelled as she fell back on her ass.

She was about to say something to the man in front of her, but froze as two predatory eyes burned into her. The look he gave her made her blood run cold, her spine shiver.

"You alright?" Garrus almost shouted as he kneeled down to help her.

Plague's eyes started to change as she looked at him with a look of pure shock. His eyes went from hate filled, to relization, and then shock once he noticed her hand covering her left cheek.

"Shepard?" he started to say as more pain shot through his body. "Fuck!"

Getting over the sting on her cheek, Shepard got back up to see what she could do to help. "Plague what's wrong?"

Plague POV

He slowly turned his head to his imployer.

'You didn't see that?' he was about to say, but quickly put it aside once he realized everyone was looking at him. 'They didn't see?' he looked back down to his atomized hand as it started to pull itself together, the pain almost unbearable. 'They can't see.'

"Pain killers…" he ordered his pipboy.

Instantly the drugs were pimpped into his arm, slightly easing the pain. Once his hand was back to normal, Plague sat up on the floor with his back at the bed behind him.

"…I'm…I'm sorry Shepard…" he apologized as he rested the back of his head on the surface behind him. "I didn't know…you were…" he trailed of as he looked down to his hand, almost expacting it to rip itself apart again.

"I'll live." the woman said as she rubbed her cheek again with her palm. "Still hurts like a bitch thou."

"I'll make it up to you." Plague anounced as he let out a tired sigh.

"You better." she agreed. "I still can't use that suit yet."

Letting out a short laugh, Plague lifted himself to his feet. "Speacking of which, you still wearing the nerve suit?"

His answer was a quick, but not hard, smack to the back of the head as the woman's right cheek was now the same color as her left. "Not here."

"Nurve suit?" the nearby turian asked, to Shepard's dismay.

"Nothing Garrus."

Kasumi Ghoto POV

It had been a few hours since the theif had left the medbay, and walked into her room to curl up on the sofa with her knees to her chin.

Usually that sitting position was relaxing to her. However, she was informed an hour ago by EDI that Plague…Adam was awake. Now she was both a frightened and nerves wreck.

'So unlike me.' she admitted to herself.

Plague knew she knows his name, but he has not coming after her. And she hadn't gone to him to get it over with.

When she heard a knock on her door, she froze.

She prayed quietly that EDI hadn't heard it. Sadly the AI did however, and the door opened to show the man she was, at the moment afrade of.

He wore his blue 101 jumpsuit. His eyes flickered around the new room. Before they went to her, they hesitated on the bar she had brought onto the ship. He let out a small curse before he finally looked at her with tired eyes.

"Been looking everywhere for that…" he started to say until he looked at the womam on the sofa. "…We need to talk." he said with an edge to his voice as he remembered why he came to the room.

Kasumi gave a slow nod as the man took it as a sign to continue. "I guess the first thing I should ask is this related to how our little outing became…weird, as you put it?"

"Yes…" Kasumi admitted. "That and you called me Sarah…" she spoke before she could stop herself.

Plague's eyes almost jumped out of his head as his mouth opened and closed a few times before he could finally say anything that sounded remotely coherent. "I shouldn't have drunk that shit…" he finally managed to mumble as he face palmed.

Kasumi was surprised how calm he was. She could see his other hand shaking on his lap.

"How much did I say?" he asked as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Besides the drunkin flirting?" she asked jokingly, earning the sight of a scowl that was aimed at the floor. "Well…you did say I was…an angle a few times…" Kasumi felt her cheecks become warmer slightly. She was happy to have a hood covering most of her face. "…You said something about someone named Amata." the name made Plague look at her as if it was the last thing he expected to hear. "I…asked if…what you told me was true." she couldn't stop her voice from becoming shaky. She managed to control her emotions, but she couldn't stop everything. "Then…you thought I was this…Sarah." she looked over and saw that the second mention of Sarah, had made Plague's form freeze as if he was a statue. "You asked me why I was not using your name, instead of calling you Plague…so…I asked."

The room was quiet for a few seconds. To Kasumi, they felt like hours.

Finally Plague let out a sigh as he shook his head. "I can't blame you for how I acted." he said as he slowly got up. "Not like you planned it…"

She couldn't let him finish that sentence. Sure she knew she was practicly in the clear, but something inside of her wanted to confess, no matter the consequences. And he was almost out the door. "…I did."

Those two words made Plague instantly spin around to look at her. His eyes seemed to burn into her. His mouth was almost making a snarl. "What do you mean?" he asked venom on every word.

Kasumi had jumped a little when she heard his voice. "The drink I got…" she voiced quietly. "…I use it when…I need information. Incase a need a password…or something along those lines."

Her eyes slammed shut expecting Plague to lash out, but all she heard was Plague hit the door next to him.

"Plague…I." before she could say another word, he cut her off.

"You knew since then what my name was." he shouted as he pointed an acusing finger at her. "I better not hear my name exit your lips! Same gose for Amata, and…Sarah's. God help me, if you do, I will gut you myself!"

As soon as he was finished talking, he turned and wlked through the door.

When the door closed behind Plague, tears went down Kasumi's cheeks.

"I'm…sorry…" she whimpered as the last image of Plague came back to her, thanks to her gray box.

The look of outrage on his face, the way his eyes were burning into her, and finally, his hand starting to go up to the other as if it suddenly caught on fire.

Plague POV

"Bitch!" he shouted as the door to his temporary quarters closed behind him.

His mind was everywhere. How long was she going to hide what she had done if she hadn't let it slip? What could she gain? Did she enjoy messing with his head at the time?

His fit of rage triggered pain to explode throughout his arm. The instint pain made him fall to his knees with gritted teeth.

Just like a few hours erlier, Plague's hand ripped itself down to the atomic level.

The pipboy on his arm started to beep again as everything Plague had was re atomized around him in a clumsy mess. Pieces to his power armor's, his weapons, soon to be recycled ammo casings from the battlefield, spair parts, the ripped remains of his stealth suit, land mines, gurnades, and everything ells that had been on him.

Soon his whole arm was reduced to atoms.

"No…What is this?" he moaned as the throbbing pain made him slam his forehead on the ground under him. "…Stop." he ordered his pipboy.

His pipboy just ignored him as other items were atomized around him, and the re atomized again.

Plague was no stranger to pain, but having yourself ripped apart atom by atom was excruciating.

"Stop!" he almost screamed as it made its way to his shoulder blade and started to spread throughout his side.

Not only was he simply being ripped apart, but he felt as if he would vanish without a trace.

In a desprit atempt to fight the pain, he started grabing anything solid around him. His free hand finally grasbed something that haden't atomized yet.

As soon as he tightened is grip, his moans of pain stopped for a moment as he heard a voice.

"I know." a recorded voice said, as if answering on unheard question.

The helmet had to of been activated by mistake.

The voice made him even more furies, thus, accelerating his own atomization.

"I'm sorry." Kasumi's voice apologized before Plague could throw the helmet to the side. "I…just needed to know. I wanted to make sure…you were telling me the truth."

The words seemed remorseful, and genuine. The tone of her voice made him want to hear every word, no matter what she did. He just wanted…no…needed to hear what she was saying.

Sedately, he felt the pain spreading slower, but he gave it no mind as the side of his face felt the agony.

"I don't know why I didn't just trust you. You saved my life…not many people…well…besides Shepard, would save a thief like myself…I was so surprised when EDI told me what happened…you being my actual knight in shining armor…"

His hand worked on its own, and placed the helmet over his head. Instantly a little screen activated, showing what was happening at the time it had started recording. Plague was able to see Kasumi. The helmet was in her lap, and at the angle he was able to see her face. She stopped a small chuckle that was about to leave her.

Plague saw her look to the side, as if making sure no one was watching, or listening in. "What was that you said while I was recovering? The unworthy shouldn't look upon…"

"…Perfection…" Plague finished.

He hated that word, but at the time it just popped into his head.

A warm smile slowly started to form as if she had heard him. His side slowly started to put itself together as Plague forced himself to sit against a nearby wall.

"Not many people have actually seen my face…so…when I came down to thank you…I took a chance…The less people who know what I looked like, the lower are my chances of being found by those I have stolen from, and most unlikely I would be picked out of a lineup." she blushed a little more as she looked around herself again. "I showed you how I looked without the hood…and you smiled at me…and …treated me like a friend…I…should have just believed you…"

She started crying quietly as she got out of her seat, and placed the helmet on the chair. He watched as she started walking out of the room. "Call me when he wakes up, please."

Finally the door closed behind her, leaving nothing to see, but the door. Nothing to hear other then the doctor working.

He had a feeling that there was nothing werth watching after Kasumi had left, so his tapped the side with his now fully intact hand.

The pain left him exhausted. He couldn't make his eyelids stay open. He wanted to be awake; he wanted to find out what had just happened to him, he wanted to see Kasumi so he could hear the voice that had, somehow anchored him.

Finally he passed out.

Alright. What should I quiz you guys on? I GOT IT!

What are the names of all of the Think Tank scientists in Old World Blues DLC?

Let's see how long till the heads roll.


	14. Chapter 14 Before me is a kind Plague

**Winner was Judarud**

**who were the think tank scientisrs?**

**Answer: Dr. Klein, Dr. Mobius, Dr. 8, Dr. 0 and Dr. Dala**

* * *

><p><strong>The Wildcard <strong>

**Chapter 14**

The only sound hearable in the small room was the hum of the ships engines nearby. Understandable since Plague's room was almost right next to it.

The humming called out to him as if it was coaxing him out of his slumber. The humming sounded peaceful, relaxing, and efficient.

It was a nice sound to wake up to.

Caffeine flowed through his veins from the device on his arm. Not a large amount, but enough to make sure he wouldn't simply drift back to sleep.

It was one of the many functions the pipboy was built to do. Growing up with a pipboy on your arm made it feel like a small convenience.

Vaults could get crowded. So once you received a pipboy, it was a good idea to hold most of your belongings within it to avoid clutter. So with that in mind, when he looked at the mess around him, he instinctively gave his pipboy the command to atomize all registered belongings in the floor.

He was momentarily confused as to how they had gotten there in the first place. Then he remembered what happened a few days before.

Ever since the pipboy's episode, it would empty its contents while he was asleep. When he would not be able to focus on it.

He rolled off of his bunk as he contemplated if he should have his pipboy re atomize a change of cloths. He dismissed the idea quickly however. Not fully knowing what was wrong with his device, he decided to remain in his jumpsuit.

He couldn't see any problems with the contraption. He had taken off the screen to look at the mechanics underneath, but that was as far as he was able to go. To fully dismantle it, would require him to take it off. And not only did he feel uncomfortable having his pipboy absent, but that would also mean he would have to cut off his own hand. It was the only way to remove it. Once you received a pipboy, it would be with you for life. And once you kicked the bucket, the pipboy would be removed and handed down to the next vault resident who came of age.

He had asked who the pipboy used to belong to. And his name was Jake…Plague didn't bother to memorize the last name. That's how he was with almost everyone he knew. If you were not someone of importance, he would simply develop a first name bases with the individual no matter how much they protest.

Now if your appearance or personality acquired his attention, he would talk to you with a more polite and friendlier manner.

Not many people were surprised that most of those lucky individuals happened to be beautiful women.

**Taylor Shepard**

"No. Not like that." Shepard heard as she moved her armored arm too forcefully.

Shepard had been learning how to fully use the Tesla power armor. She was finally aloud to move the suit on her own. But every time she would move, Plague would have a problem with how she did so. Like right now for example.

"You said pretend it was not there." she complained.

"I did." Plague droned, his medic suit helmet slightly altering his voice. "I did not say however, for you to move like you had a riot shield in front of you."

"What does that mean?" Shepard shouted in annoyance. "Its, armor. So I am using it like armor."

"You are "using" it like you expect nothing would be able to crack it open like a nut!" Plague shouted back, arms thrown into the air in irritation.

"What?" she shot back. "I know how a shield works. Every defense has a flaw. When I find that flaw, I will correct it. Until then…"

"…You will die when you find out." Plague interrupted. "You won't get a chance to correct anything!"

"Then explain better!" Shepard's voice echoed throughout the cargo bay.

"You want me to explain better?" Plague asked as he pointed at himself. "Ok. I will explain Better."

Without warning, Plague charged Shepard. The Commander's eyes opened in shock as the mass of metal accelerated quickly towards her.

She didn't expect him to just attack her.

By the time Shepard raised her arms to defend herself, Plague had already sidestepped, grabbed her arm, and used her own armored weight against her to make her start falling to her side.

She was flailing her free arm around to try and stop her decent. Before she hit the ground however, Plague grabbed the back of her helmeted head and slammed it into his knee with enough force to send her form back up.

Her suit absorbed most of the damage, but she still hit the inside of her helmet with her own forehead.

"React!" Plague yelled as he swung a fist at her head she was holding with her hands.

Shepard instinctively threw her head backwards, but her chest plate was grabbed by Plague's other hand, and pulled her towards his armored fist.

Before it made contact with her head, she intercepted it with her right arm.

The blow went harmlessly to the side and then came back quickly in an arc to strike at the side of her head.

Before she could recover, something hit the back of her knees, sending her on them.

"Better." she heard Plague comment above her. "Need to work on your reaction time."

Seething with anger, Shepard lashed out while she was still on the ground. "React to this!"

Shepard looked up with a grin on her face. But she realized what she had just done, and suddenly regretted what she did.

She was wearing a strength enhancement suit…and she had just uppercut in front of her while on her knees before a male of her species.

Strength enhancement + on knees + forward uppercut + male = the most devastating shot below the belt known to mankind. (Emphasis on "man")

**Plague POV **

"Oh. My. Fucking. God." a bald biotic said with shock before laughing her lungs out in the med bay's doorway.

"Not a damn word, Bitch…" an agonized man warned as he sat on a bed with several icepacks in his lap.

"But I have a word." Jack said as she leaned forward so he could hear. "Neutering…" she whispered in a kind of sadistic, but flirtatious tone to further annoy him.

"That's enough, Jack." Shepard commanded before the man sitting on the bed could throw something. "I feel bad enough without thanking of that."

"Pry tell, Boss." Plague began to say as he looked at her with a look of irritation. "What were you "thinking" before the preemptive strike on the future generations of my unborn offspring?"

He saw her face turn red as a tomato before she put her head in her hands. "I…just wasn't…I thought I could…catch you off guard…by attacking you while on the ground."

"Guess what." Plague said to get her attention. "Mission Fucking Accomplished."

"Good job, Shepard." Jack congratulated. "You prevented Plague from starting an actual plague."

This time Plague re atomized a bullet casing, and launched it at the women, hitting her between the eyes.

"Should be thankful the suit was not at full power, and most of the impact was absorbed by my own suit." Plague blankly stated, not really talking to anyone.

"Again. I am so…" Shepard started to apologize.

"Don't." Plague interrupted. "I know it was not planned. The downtime gives me time to follow up on my own projects anyway."

The "projects" he called it, was finding out what was wrong with him.

When he felt himself ripping apart, when his pipboy wouldn't follow his commands. The pain was unlike anything he had felt before.

Back on Omega, it went off. It would only do that if it had picked up an Enclave transmission. But, how could it?

Then there was the other day.

He had reason to believe Harbinger was partially responsible. The electrical current that went through him started what, the defibrillator Chawkwas used, finished.

In Plague's time, he had been shocked. But nothing like what his pipboy did had ever happened. If so, then why didn't it react when ever he had been hit with a plasma weapon, or laser?

"Projects?" Shepard asked as she sat across from him.

"Small stuff, Boss." he lied through his teeth. "Nothing to worry about."

She seemed to buy it, but he could tell she was a little suspicious. "In that case, I have needed to ask you some things."

"Like what?" he asked as an eyebrow was raised.

"Well." she seemed to look a little hesitant with her words. "I wanted to ask about where you are from?"

Plague's reaction was his other eyebrow joining its slightly elevated twin. He knew he would be asked eventually.

"Earth." he answered with a deadpan manner.

This answer seemed to tick Shepard off a bit as she leaned a little forward. "You're lying."

"Why do you think that?" Plague asked innocently.

"Mordin has been examining your blood." she started to explain. "Results show that you are from a highly radioactive world."

"Shit." Jack announced. "He's fucking radioactive?"

"No." Plague interjected. "I am not. And I guess, in a way you are right, Boss." this time Plague tried to lean forward as well. Bad idea.

"I thought so." Shepard said as she crossed her arms. "He also told me what you told him about your homeworld. And before you start. No, he didn't say anything about your armors."

Plague was quickly starting to get annoyed. "Why is it such a problem?"

"Usually it wouldn't." she answered.

Despite the now dull pain in Plague's lower regions, Plague smirked.

**Taylor Shepard POV**

The man's amused look confused Shepard. Sure she had seen stranger things. But, there was nothing for him to be smiling at. She had him cornered.

"Why so shocked?" he asked as he shook off the pain in his lap, to stand after he placed the ice bags on the bed. "It was only a matter of time I guess. Right? So Commander Shepard…" he took a step towards her as he re atomized his jumpsuit to replace the blue shirt and shorts he had been wearing. "…what brought up the sudden interest hmm?"

"Aside from the obvious?" she asked as she stood before him. "I guess the first thing would be that AI in your medic suit."

Shepard narrowed her eyes when Plague just seemed to become more amused.

"Your ship has an AI." he said, again with a deadpanned manner.

"And I remove the cameras in the bathrooms so I could get a little privacy knowing everything EDI sees would go straight to The Illusive Man. What's your point?" Subconsciously, Shepard took a step back when the man before her burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" she asked, getting even more annoyed.

"Nothing…HA!" to her confusion, Plague turned away from her as he walked next to the AI core. "Do you know how many bugs are in this room?" he asked as he took a quick glance around the room. "Come on. Give me a guess."

"Five?" Jack guessed, at the same time reminding everyone she was in the room.

"Nope." with that, he pulled a knife out of nowhere, alarming everyone in the room for a second. "Guess again."

Being the well trained woman she was, Shepard's eyes focused on the weapon as if it was the only thing in the room. She could feel herself instinctively readying her biotics.

"What's the knife for?" Shepard asked as she started to move herself in front of Chawkwas, who was the least combat prepared person in the room.

The doctor looked about ready to have a heart attack.

"No need for nerves, Boss." he spun the kitchen knife around in his fingers by the hilt with precision. "If I honestly wanted you dead, I would have done it ages ago."

"Then you wouldn't mind putting it…" her words were replaced by silence as Plague plunged the knife into the wall. "…What the hell are you doing to my ship?" she knew it wouldn't be able to go through the hull like his chainsaw weapon, but that didn't stop her from worrying about the safety of her ship.

Again Plague turned away from her. This time however he signaled her to wait a moment. After messing around with the wall, he pealed off, what Shepard could only guess was a well camouflaged patch from the wall.

"Too many, is the answer." he declared as he tossed it to the stunned woman.

"How did you…" she started to ask but again to her displeasure, the man signaled her to wait.

"I'm getting to that." he then put away the knife then started to walk up to her. "You know how many of those I have removed from the room you gave me?" before anyone could answer, he continued. "Seventy-Fucking-three! I even know where the recorded video and audio go before they are sent to your Illusive Man. Do you honesty think I will explain myself at all with Miranda listening?" after a second to take in Shepard's surprised look, Plague continued. "That's right."

All of this time, Shepard had thought the signals were sent straight to TIM.

"So. If you wish to continue this interrogation, by all means, let us retire to a place with fewer eyes. Yes?"

"Why are you telling me all this?" she asked as Plague already started walking through the door.

He didn't answer her question. The only reply he gave her was an "I can debug you room if you want?"

**Ten Minutes Later**

"That should…" he started to say from where he was standing on Shepards bed, to her distaste as she watched him remove the twentieth bug. "Now that should be it." he announced as he jumped off of the bed.

Reminding herself to clean her sheets, Shepard activated the holographic display to feed her fish. "How do you know where they are?"

"They stick out to me." he answered as he put the deactivated bug in the trash bin. "Now. Back to our conversation."

"Yes, please." she agreed as she sat on her couch. "Where are you from?"

"Earth." he answered again, causing a scowl to appear on Shepard's face.

"No you are not." she refused as the man sat on her bed.

"By all means, please tell me where "I" am from." he challenged.

"Like I said before…" she started. "…a highly radioactive world."

"Correct." he simply answered.

Shepard lightly scratched the bridge of he nose as she contemplate her next question.

She had him. "A radioactive world. And I don't mean radioactive by mistake. My guess is nuclear war."

"Correct." he answered with that monotone voice of his that slowly started making her ask why she didn't crush him with her biotics.

"You work with an Artificial Intelligence. So you couldn't be from Citadel Space. And if you were then that would mean you would have been using it illegally."

"Citadel Space?" he asked as he propped his head with an arm.

"Yes." she asked, with a little confusion.

'He can't be that stupid.' she thought to herself.

"You telling me you don't know the difference between Citadel Space, and the Terminus Space?" she asked.

"Nope." he answered bluntly. "Don't really care." he stated as he acted as if he had dismissed the topic.

"But if you don't know then does that mean you are from an underdeveloped world?" she asked.

If he was somehow from a world that did not have space travel. If he was not really a member of her species then wouldn't that make Plague part of a first contact situation?

"Earth." he said again, earning an annoyed look as he himself showed one.

Her eyebrow started to twitch in irritation as she looked at him.

"Then…" she was beginning to ask him a question, when he cut her off before she could say another word.

"Who is he?" he asked as his personality took a u-tern and went from annoyed, to that of a cheery gossip.

"What?" she blurted out.

The question came out of nowhere, and she was quite sure there was no "He" present within the room besides Plague himself. And she was damn sure there was no romantic "He" either.

"The way you move." he said as if the four words would be the answer to the question thrown back at him.

"Again with the way I move." she murmured to herself as she rubbed her temples.

"You turn a corner with hope you would see someone." he started to explain. "But when you see no one, you continue with the same thought in your mind. But I have a feeling that this someone would never be around the corner on this ship. And you know it."

The words hit her hard. What was he getting at? How does he know this?

"Your body moves as if it subconsciously wants to attract someone, with a kind of seductive manner. But you straghten up when someone sees you. Clearly telling me you aren't hunting." he looked up at her with a knowing look that annoyed her even more. "You're searching for what you already caught, and what caught you."

"How do you know all that?" Shepard asked with a sharp angry tone.

"So I am right." he confermed. "I don't even know if you notice these behaviers yourself. So I recommend you take notice so you don't give someone the wrong signals." as if finally noticing she was getting angry, he held up his hands in surender. "Relax, Boss. Peace."

"Why are you bringing this up?" she almost shouted. "Why have you been watching me? What are you…?"

He raised a hand to tell her to calm down before he started talking again. "I don't spy on anyone." he defended with a calmer tone then she was using. "I notice these things because you are my employer. I only brought it up out of concern."

With that, he put his hands behind his head as he went back, leaving his legs the only part of him off the bad as the rest of him was now relaxing on it.

"This person is important to you. I can tell. But I am guessing this person was on the first Normandy." her eyes widened a little more. "Correct." he anounced as if he had seen her reaction. "You want to see this person, but you are afraid." before she could say anything he sat back up. "Don't be."

Before she could ask him anything, he started walking towards the door.

"Your in love." he declaired as he stepped through the door. Shepard had already gotten up herself, but she couldn't get to the door before the elevater doors started to close. "Remember what brought you two together in the first place." he reminded with a cheeky grin on his face right before the elevaters doors closed completely.

Shepard just stood there in her doorway for a few seconds before she turned back into her room.

The former loft, it used to be called, was quiet as she walked in and sat at her desk. Rested her head on the desk as she looked to her right to see, in the frame on the desk, the blue face of the one she wanted to hold in her arms once again.

**Plague POV**

The elevater opened on the engineering deck, and once it opened, Plague's grin vanished as a hooded woman took a step back once she realized it was him in the elevater.

His eyes slightly narrowed as he took in her appearance.

He hadn't seen her since she confessed what she had done. Either used her cloak everywhere, or she stayed in her room since then and only came out when he was not around.

Plague still felt betrayed, but after hearing the recording in his helmet, his feelings started to become rather conflicted towords the thief.

"Excuse…me." she mumbled in a quiet tone as she stepped into the elevater as he got out. The whole time, she pulled down on the tip of her hood as if hoping the action would make him forget he had seen her.

The voice also felt saddened and dismayed. He couldn't help but feel a tug inside of him as he heared the sound.

"Goto." he greeted as he watched the doors close between them.

He could have sworn she heard a soft whimper before the door took the woman out of his view.

Slowly, Plague turned towards his room as he rubbed the back of his neck.

'Should I say something?' he asked himself as he walked.

Sure he had a reason to be angry. But was it right for him to have his little outburst. Sure she drugged him so she could find the truth. But could he blame her for not naively believing his words?

If she had appeared in the wastes and said she was from an alternate timeline where she had been a thief stealing both human, and alien art and jewels.

The answer would be no. of course he wouldn't have believed her.

Although. Once he thought about it, hadn't he already met many crazy individuals in his time?

His door opened and as he walked over to sit on his bunk, Plague couldn't help but widen his eyes as he noticed a box on it.

It was not that big. It was simply a medium sized box. Although it was not like a wooden crate, or a simple cardbored box. Its surface looked metallic with a dark grey color. There was a small holographic interface on the front with the telltale green light showing it was not locked.

What got his atenction most of all, was the small folded paper note on the top with "Plague" writen in English.

Now he knows why Kasumi had came down to the engineering deck.

He picked up the paper and opened it to be greeted by beutifull handwriting.

_Adieu, farewell, earth's bliss;_

_This world uncertain is;_

_Fond are life's lustful joys;_

_Death proves them all but toys;_

_None from his darts can fly;_

_I am sick, I must die, _

_have mercy on us!_

_Rich men, trust not in wealth,_

_Gold cannot buy you health;_

_Physic himself must things to end are made,_

_The plague full swift goes by;_

_I am sick, I must die, _

_have mercy on us!_

_Beauty is but a flower_

_Which wrinkles will devour;_

_Brightness falls from the air;_

_Queens have died young and fair;_

_Dust hath closed Helen's eye._

_I am sick, I must die, _

_have mercy on us!_

_Strength stoops unto the grave,_

_Worms feed on Hector brave;_

_Swords may not fight with fate,_

_Earth still holds open her gate._

_"Come, come!" the bells do cry._

_I am sick, I must die, _

_have mercy on us!_

_Wit with his wantonness_

_Tasteth death's bitterness;_

_Hell's executioner_

_Hath no ears for to hear_

_What vain art can reply._

_I am sick, I must die, _

_have mercy on us!_

_Haste, therefore, each degree,_

_To welcome destiny;_

_Heaven is our heritage,_

_Earth but a player's stage;_

_Mount we unto the sky._

_I am sick, I must die, _

_have mercy on us! _

_Written by Thomas Nashe_

_January 20, 2003 _

The next section looked as if it was written by Kasumi.

_You're name means death;_

_But at the same time it means life._

_You are wise in you're way;_

_As life finds a way around._

_You lived through the pain;_

_Through chaos and strife, you are born. _

_Before me is a kind Plague._

_For I know who you hide behind a mask of words:_

_So to, does your disguise remain free?_

_I have the true face of death before me;_

_Others see damnation before he._

_My vision is free from the words;_

_Even death must adjourn once in a while. _

_Before me is a kind Plague._

By the time Plague had finished reading the poem, he had sat next to the box.

He read the paper twice before he set it next to him.

Letting out an audible sigh, Plague looked at the box next to him. He almost didn't know what to do in the situation he found himself in. Plague was a man of fair exchange. He had never received anything from someone who didn't want something ells in return.

Kasumi now confused him.

Hesitantly, Plague manipulated the controls to the container. Almost instantly he heard a his as the lid opened on it's own to reveal what he did not expect.

First thing he noticed was his duster folded neatly. Kasumi must have had it since the last mission. He took it out to see it looked as good as new. The added patches he had used to repair it had been removed. Instead, he found that the whole duster had not a single rip or damage from his time in the wastes.

The fabric no longer felt or showed any sign of being worn. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought this was a different coat.

He placed it next to the poems and looked back into the box.

The next thing he saw was another note. It only had three words, but he couldn't help but notice the slightly shaky handwriting.

_I am sorry._

* * *

><p><strong>Poems were never really my strong suit.<strong>

**anyway i have no questions for this chapter. so i will ask a none related question. I am a big fin of self-insert stories. i dont know why. do any of you guys know any GOOD self-insert fanfics? if so please point me in the right direction.**


	15. Chapter 15 Can't Sleep In Chaos

**I would like to get somthing out of the way. some of you were a little miffed at the power armor part of the last chapter. I am not saying Plague is stronger then Shepard in a fight. Personally i think it would be a close fight. what i am saying however is, with both wearing power armors, Plague would have a LARGE advantage. Shep's not going to instintly adapt to the suit. Plague was simply seeing how she would react wearing a suit of armor that she has never used. so Plaease calm down!**

**now that that is out of the way. I would like to thank those of use who requested Self Insert stories. If you know anymore please by all means, post them. dose not matter if its a game, move, tv show, anime, whatever. i love self inserts for some odd reason...don't know why.**

**anyway off to chapter 15**

* * *

><p><strong>The Wildcard<strong>

**Chapter 15**

(A bright red flash. The light would blind most people. But the flash was only the beginning.

The screams, living beings running for they're lives in a desperate attempt to save themselves from what might as well be hell behind them. All the while still in that disturbing red and orange tint.

An image of organs being exposed to the air, at the same time revealing that the misfortunate person was still vary much alive as the innards of that same person were toyed with by mechanical implements. The heartbeat was quickening as it was exposed to the elements, adding its sound to the already audible screams.

From the perspective you would not be able to tell what matter of being this was, since the devices worked to make it appear as if it were a mockery of its original form.

The sickening smell of burning wires and flesh, made its way to the spectator's nostrils as the screaming intensified, threatening to deafen those who were able to hear.

Wires and metal burned before the eyes of the watcher as they were surgically implanted without consent.

The images changed to show other gory and disturbing scenes as more loud wails joined the ones already present.

Twisted flesh, fire, chaos, madness, death.

Finally to the spectator's relief, the screams were silenced as the view changed to two bright orange suns.

The moment of relief was replaced by dread and anticipation.

The watcher was aware of what was going to happen next.

Finally the view went to a dark orb of a planet as an unidentifiable sound was heard as the one being forced to watch was pulled to the dark planet as if gravity had kicked in.

The last image was seen as the squid like red outline of a Reaper showed itself as it came closer and closer with frightening speed.)

Shepard shot up as her heart pounded in her chest as she panted as if from extreme exertion. She was covered in sweat as she brought her hands to her face.

She felt sick like she did almost every night.

She almost didn't notice her covers had slipped off of her as she slept.

In the dreams she would know what was about to happen. But she was unable to do anything as the protheans were slaughtered before her eyes. She did not dare close her eyes, knowing full well that if she did there was a chance she would be thrown back into that hell she had seen many times.

"Commander Shepard?" EDI said as her holographic avatar appeared across from the blue glow of the large fish tank.

"I…fine, EDI." she forced out as she noticed her face was covered in some liquid. 'I was crying?' she asked herself as she wiped her both sweat and tear covered face.

Then she noticed that the cloths she had worn to bed were now sticking to her form as she moved to get out of bed.

"I can inform Doctor Chakwas about you're…"

"No." Shepard objected as she walked to her bathroom.

"Vary well. Logging you out, Shepard." EDI said as her avatar disappeared.

She didn't want to bug Chakwas. After all she had already asked for her help back when she was hunting Saren.

Once Saren was dead, and there was no current threat of a reaper invasion, she had asked if Liara could do anything. The asari tried to help her. Shepard loved her even more as she looked into her eyes after her attempts to help with the dreams by melding. She loved her for being so caring, so sensitive, and so beautiful.

The melds did nothing, but that didn't stop her from tightly holding the asari in her arms as their lips met, causing her to meld for a different reason. With love. With lust filled passion. A need to feel the warm, soft flesh of the other as they became one in both body and mind. Feeling the stimulation of touching her own skin through her lover's finger tips as she did the same with hers.

She felt abandoned. To go from a lifestyle of having her love nearby, to being brought back from the dead without that blue face to greet her back into the world…

Those few nights she had no dreams, she would wake expecting to have a form next to her.

Since she had been on the Normandy SR-2, she had caught herself walking to the AI core, expecting it to actually be where Liara would be sitting at the desk in the next room from the sickbay.

Shepard walked out of the steamy bathroom after her shower, wearing a clean set of the civilian cloths she liked to wear around the ship. Even if she wanted to wear a uniform, they all had that Cerberus logo. Might as well paint a target on her head so she could shoot herself, rather then be forced to work for that man.

She slipped her boots on as she left her room with her hair in a ponytail.

Once she made it to the crew deck, she was surprised to see some of the crew awake so early in the morning. Must have been those unfortunate enough to be on the nightshift. Gardner was busy cleaning tables.

Once he saw her standing there, he waved her over to sit as he finished the rest of the table.

"Your up early, Commander." he announced as he walked back to his kitchen area as Shepard sat down. "What can I get you?"

"Nothing, Just a cup of coffee, if we have any." she said as she stretched her arms for a short moment.

"Nonsense! You need a good breakfast." after saying that, he turned on the stove as he grabbed some things out of the fridge.

"No. Really." Shepard objected as the man continued to cook.

"You have to eat something." he said with a tinge of worry in his voice Shepard almost didn't notice. "Ever since you got on this ship, you have been eating fewer and fewer meals."

Giving in to his logic, Shepard didn't press the argument any further as she heard something sizzling in the skillet.

"Everyone is always in a big hurry." Gardner commented as he flipped something. "Garrus always stays in the gun battery between meals. Zaeed, and the crew just walk through to grab protein bars, the Krogan raids the fridge without asking, and Miranda Lawson takes her meals to her office. The bald one…Jack, always swipes something to take back down to engineering, Plague runs on a timer, and Goto, I haven't seen in days. Mr. Tayler eats his meals here too quickly to strike up a conversation. And the Salarian. He never shuts his mouth long enough for me to get a word in. And that's in the rare occasions I actually know what he's talking about."

"What was that about Kasumi?" Shpard asked after the man's rant.

"None of the crew has seen her since the last mission." he explained as he started walking up to Shapard with a tray of food.

After the meal was placed before her, Shepard noticed how the food looked much better then what she remembered.

The man had made a stack of four French toast with strawberry jam, and a side of bacon and sausage.

"Syrup?" he asked as he started walking back to the kitchen area.

Before she could say anything, he was back and placed to bottle of maple syrup next to her as he placed a small plate with two eggs over easy and a glass of milk.

"This seems a little…" she didn't know what word she wanted to use. Sure she was hungry, but this seemed a little much. She hadn't eaten a large breakfast since her childhood. She felt a small tug on her heart as she remembered how much her mother loved to cook. "…extravagant." she finished and then looked up at him. "…I'm flattered…but I don't think you're my type."

The man gave her a confused look for a few seconds and then started laughing as he started to shake his head as he turned to walk away.

His laughing was interrupted by his Omni-tool going off.

"What's that for?" Shepard asked with her first bite of food in her mouth. She had eaten better. But it was alright.

"Time for Plague to eat his first meal of the day." he explained as he started preparing.

Almost as soon as he finished cooking, Plague walked around the corner from the elevator with a somewhat perplexed look on his face.

Shepard was about to comment on him wearing the same cloths as the last time she saw him, but thought better of it when she saw him closer.

He gave her a small wave in greeting as he walked up to receive a tray waiting for him from Gardner.

She noticed Plague was getting less skinny. Compared to how he looked when she first met him and now. He looked a lot healthier.

Plague then sat across from her, and Shepard couldn't help but notice Plague had almost the same amount of food she had. The only difference was the glass of water, and the fact that he didn't use any syrup or jam. Now either Gardner is running through the food on the ship like a man in a marathon, or something was up.

She wanted to ask. But thought she would better talk to the new arrival first.

"Something wrong?" she asked and then took another bite.

"I should be asking you that." he shot back with a calm voice as his eyes flickered to her for a second before staring at the food before him. "Trouble sleeping?"

Shepard rubbed her temples as she set down her fork. "I hate it when you do that." she groaned as she took a drink.

"What do you mean?" he asked innocently.

"I mean when you just read people like a book." Shepard answered as she picked up a piece of bacon and took a bite.

"I am used to people luring me into traps, or trying to swindle me of what I have." he explained as he looked at her again. "Now I am out of my element. Everyone on this ship confuses me."

"Your element being a radioactive earth, in an alternate timeline?" she asked, seeing this as a chance to get him to come clean and tell her where he is from. Clearly he made the whole thing up.

"You may not believe me Shepard, but that dose not mean I will change my background." he stated as he looked up at something that turned out to be a member of the crew complaining that his tray had far less food then the two sitting.

Shepard held in a small laugh as Gardner explained that Plague actually liked his cooking, and Shepard herself was the one who had bought the ingredients.

She was relieved that he wouldn't burn through the food on the ship. The thought of her going back to re supply every few days irritated her. Sure TIM paid for everything, but the time that would be wasted…

"Anyway." Plague said, bringing her back to the conversation. "Nightmares?"

"No. A nightmare only happens once in a while." Shepard argued. "You know what a prothean beacon is?"

Plague paused for a second as if in deep thought before answering. "They were mentioned in the files sent to me after Horizon. Ancient race of beings that were wiped out by the Reapers we are fighting. Right?" he asked as he started eating again.

She took another bite and swallowed before talking. "All of our technology is based on what they left behind." she explained as Plague listened. "The Reapers have wiped out all organic life in the galaxy numerous times. What stopped them two years ago was the prothean beacon we discovered. It was a warning left behind by the last of the protheans. It…burned visions into my head. At first I did not understand it all. And then we found others as we hunted a rouge Spectre named Saren, who was working for them."

"He was in the files as well. Although it did not specify why he was working for them."

A look of sadness fell upon Shepard as she explained. "I heard that Saren always had a hatred for humans concerning the First Contact War. He also thought we were progressing too quickly. Eventually he found Sovereign."

"The Reaper who attacked the Citadel?"

"The same." Shepard answered. "Saren was slowly indoctrinated by Sovereign. I guess all of them can do that. I only met the one. They get in your head and alter the way your thinking. Eventually he had Saren believing he was actually saving all organics from extinction."

"So in the end, he was a puppet." Plague said as he finished his meal and just sat there waiting for the rest.

"Not at the end." she corrected. "On the Citadel I managed to get him to realize what he was doing. At the time, he was being controlled with his implants. I don't know if he was just disgusted with what he had done or couldn't stand the consequences for all the victims he killed." Shepard let out a sigh. "Or maybe he knew his freedom was only temporary, and wanted to stop himself from going back to becoming a puppet. He shot himself in the head."

The image of Saren pulling the trigger flashed before her as she remembered him falling into the garden below. And then his corpse was brought back, but twisted in so many ways.

There was a long silence as they both looked down at their trays. One in thought, the other reflecting on her past.

"The Beacon's visions are still in my head." she confessed. "Most nights I wake up in a cold sweat. Others…" she trailed off, not wanting to say how she curled up and just cried until she would eventually fall back to sleep.

She also wanted Liara to be with her. Sure Shepard went through hell, but Liara made her feel at piece.

She looked up to see that Plague had a thoughtful look, but he didn't comment on what he was thinking.

"So." she started. "I showed you my skeletons in my closet. How about yours?"

Plague let out a dark laugh after a small silence. "Boss…I don't think you want anything to do with those. You have a closet. I on the other hand have a full cemetery."

The morbid joke just made him laugh a little more. But the whole time he still looked a little grim. "Let's just say that I am stuck between a rock and a hard place."

"So who is the rock?" Shepard asked.

His expression looked troubled, and she could tell this had been on his mind for quite some time.

"Someone has stepped their bounds." he explained. "This person went too far in prying. Although what this individual did is… somewhat understandable. I don't know how I should act."

Shepard was now the one confused. Usually Plague was independent. To see someone as intelligent as him being this way was out of character. Sure she didn't know that much about him. But what she did…

"How far did this person go?" she asked. "Did Miranda try something?"

Plague waved a dismissive hand as he shook his head. "No. I haven't talked to her in a while. Probably trying to find out why most of the surveillance equipment on this ship just stopped working." he guessed with a little smirk, letting Shepard guess he was completely responsible for it. "What this person did was an interrogation using alcohol that also acts as a truth serum, that made me sing like a canary about my personal life."

Shepard was shocked to hear that. To find out someone on her ship had done such a thing was disturbing. She knew this was technically a Cerberus ship with Cerberus personnel. But she will not tolerate such things on her ship.

"How personal was the Intel?"

This time Plague was a little hesitant. Shepard could see that he was becoming uncomfortable. "How personal is the Intel you have about your childhood? Your sins? A name you don't want said by anyone other then those close to you? The name of your first true love?" he shook his head slowly as his right hand held onto the old dog tags around his neck. "I…I know that this person regrets what had happened. I just don't know what to do about it…"

Shepard was thinking as she fiddled with her food, not really feeling hungry after barely eating half of it, combined with the conversation about her "nightmares."

Plague didn't talk to people much. She had seen him converse with Jack and Garrus every once in a while, but she felt like he was forcing the conversations. Even now, Plague seemed out of place by just sitting across from her talking. Clearly his past life was filled with loneliness and few social interactions. That, and the fact he was a cannibal. He had to fight to survive, and was forced to eat his fellow man. She dreamed of hell, while this man actually lived in it.

Although she saw something, somewhat familiar in Plague that reminded her of herself. Not the cannibalism of course… But the feeling they both had lost people in both of their lives. Taylor, her parents and friends, a good friend on Virmire.

Plague had always struck her as an individual who seemed to have everything taken from him…like her. Only difference is the Alliance saved her, while Plague was left alone.

Would she have turned into such an isolated individual if she was never found within the remains of her kitchen with her mother and brother's cold bodies next to her?

"If you know that this person regrets it, then I guess it is honestly up to you if you forgive." she answered. "If it was me I might forgive them. It all depends on what they did with the information, in my opinion."

Plague nodded slowly after he gave her another one of those thoughtful looks. "It was nice eating with you." he said as he got up and started walking towards the elevator. "We should do this again sometime."

Shepard watched him as he left until he was out of view.

After finding no reason to stay in her seat, she picked up her tray, and the one Plague left. She didn't like cleaning up after people. But he had a lot on his mind. She'll let it slide.

"Finished?" Gardner asked as he accepted the trays.

"Been a while since I have had a big breakfast." she explained as she turned away from him.

"Commander." a female voice greeted as Shepard saw a flash of red hair at the corner of her eye.

"Yes, Kelly?" she said back as she got out of the way of some of the crew on they're way to eat.

"I have a message for you." she informed as they both walked towards the med bay door. "I was going to wait until later for you to enter the CIC. But since I saw you over here, I thought I would get it out of the way."

"So you did." Shepard observed as they stopped next to the med bay, well out of everyone's way.

"Operative Lawson would like to see you at her station on the crew deck. Here. And Operative Taylor would like to see you in the armory."

"That's strange." Shepard commented as an eyebrow raised. "Did they give you any details?"

"No, Commander." the Yeoman confessed sadly, cheerful attitude going down an inch from not being able to inform her of anything else.

"Thank you, Kelly. You saved me a trip." Shepard thanked as she patted Kelly on the shoulder as she walked past.

The action made the red head's smile beam like a puppy that just got a treat. The sight made her smile a little as well a few seconds after Kelly was out of sight.

"I swear. She's contagious." the Commander said to herself while holding down a light chuckle.

**Miranda Lawson's POV**

Miranda had been sitting at her desk for what felt like forever. Her sister needed her help. She knew The Illusive Man had a plan. But she couldn't be expected to remain calm as the clock was ticking on Oriana's freedom.

"What do you need, Miranda?" Shepard asked as the Operative's door slid open.

She wasn't expecting her to arrive so early. She had only told Kelly Chambers to deliver the message a few minutes ago. She took a breath to calm herself before she spoke. Her demeanor now appeared calm, while on the inside was a storm of emotions. None the less. She remained calm.

"Shepard, I find myself in the unpleasant position of asking for your help." she looked up at Shepard, who had since arriving, leaned against the wall on the other side of her desk. "I don't like discussing personal matters… But this is important."

The Commander looked at her with, what Miranda supposed, was a sense of worry. It was easy to spot, since her herself had been, and is still going through the same emotion.

Shepard was a caring person. Miranda knows as much. She had read all of her files, and more in the time it took Miranda to rebuild her. The woman had a sense of loyalty to those in her crew. Those under her chain of command. Her personality was always hard to read. But one thing was clear.

You mess with those under her command, or close to her, and she'll come at you like a bear protecting her cubs.

"What's wrong, Miranda?" she asked as she stopped leaning on the wall, and took a few steps closer to the desk that separated them.

"You remember what I told you about father… building a dynasty?" as she started to get out of her desk chair, Miranda continued explaining. "There was another reason I went to Cerberus for protection." she explained as she walked around her desk to stand before the woman she had pieced together. "I have a sister. A twin. And he's still hunting her. Cerberus has kept her safe. Until now. She's living a normal life on Illium, safe and hidden from my father."

"And you think your father found her?" Miranda saw something in Shepard's eyes as she asked that question.

"Precisely, Commander." she answered as she rubbed a shoulder after hearing the words she had been thinking since hearing the news herself. "My sources indicate he knows that she's on Illium. I've tried to keep her hidden without impacting her life, but I'm out of options." she turned away from Shepard for a moment, and looked back at her as she rested her hands on her desk. "He's too close. I need to relocate my sister's family before it's too late."

"What…" Shepard began to say with an emotion showing that caught Miranda's attention. "What do you know about your sister?" she finally asked after the moment of hesitation.

Miranda's eyes widened in realization for a second in shock. 'How could I forget?' she asked herself.

Shepard had no family. In her childhood. Miranda read about the slaver attack on her home colony. Her father was in an explosion at the space port he worked at; her mother was killed in a bombing run. When she was found, she was barely alive after the ordeal. When she first read about her dead little baby brother in her arms, she was hit with a wave of pity.

And that was before she read that one of the slavers had attempted to rape her. The girl wouldn't talk for a few months afterwards, so they had to piece together what happened. They matched the fabrics from her belt at the back of her pants that had been cut so her pants would go down easier, to the fabric on a dead slaver's knife.

Her unfocused and unstable biotics saved her life.

Miranda had developed a sense of respect for the Commander while she worked on her. She had everything taken from her. She had survived, and built a remarkable military carrier afterwards. To show her respect, she did her job. She worked around the clock for two years to give her a second chance at life.

Not just to stop the Collectors. To give this survivor what was taken from her before it was her time.

"She's my genetic twin." she forced herself to answer, knowing she was reminding her of what she had long lost. "We're identical. But she disserves a normal life. And she's going to get it. No matter what."

"Does your sister's family know about this?" Shepard asked as she crossed her arms. Miranda could see Taylor was eager to help. But at the same time wished she was not having this conversation that opened so many old wounds. "How will they react to being relocated?"

"They know nothing. They're completely uninvolved." a small smile appeared on her face for a moment as she said the next word. What she never had. "Normal." she now looked back at Shepard. "I told Cerberus, and they're coming up with a positive reason to move the family."

The woman before her let out a long sigh as she looked down at the floor. For a moment, Miranda thought it would be too much for the Commander. "What do you need me to do?"

**Taylor Shepard POV**

Shepard sat down on her bed as she rubbed her shoulders. She had just finished talking with Taylor about his father. She would take care of his problem on the way to Illium, after picking up Tali.

Miranda said there was enough time before her sister's relocation to do so.

She felt both physically and emotionally worn out. She had struggled to forget what had happened to her home. But to have not one, but two individuals remind her in the same hour!

She knew it was not they're intention to do so. She wanted to help, and she will.

Weakly, Shepard pulled herself off of her bed to walk into her bathroom. The cold water she splashed on her face helped.

But only a small amount.

**Plague POV**

It was quiet in Plague's room, as a silent form sat upon the cot. It was quiet. Yes. But inside of the individuals mind was another story.

Conflicting emotions, feelings, questions, plans. All seemed to spiral out of control in his head.

'What do I do?' he asked himself as he switched on his pipboy.

His newly restored duster was folded nicely next to him, with the folded pieces of paper on top.

The poems didn't make sense to him. How the hell could he be a kind Plague? He had done nothing to make himself be called as such. As long as he could remember, Plague killed those who attacked him savagely. He almost hunted the remnants of the Enclave down to extinction.

That was after all how he got that title.

Many explorers and scavengers have stumbled upon his handiwork.

("Mercy!" a voice screamed from the inside of a downed Vertibird.

It had crashed upside down on a rocky hill after its right engines had been hit with a surprise, well aimed, rocket. The side had damage that couldn't have been made by a rocket, however. No. it had been cut into with tools.

The intruder stood on the ceiling that now acted as the floor in the vertibird's upside down position. Around him were a mix of both incapacitated, and dead Enclave soldiers, still hanging from there seats, thanks to they're harnesses.

Wires were exposed, sparks sprayed, illuminating the surroundings to one lone Enclave.

He had awoken shortly after the crash, and was furiously trying to unclip his harness that had somehow jammed. A few seconds ago, he saw this figure slice open one of his comrade's throat.

The blood didn't even faze the man. In fact, he could have sworn he heard some kind of sadistic laughter as his friend gurgled blood. He was unsure with the blood going to his head, adding to the adrenaline that made his heartbeat loud in his ears.

The man was drawn to the only awake Enclave in the wrecked aircraft. The soldier had on his power armor. But he had lost his helmet in the crash, and his plasma rifle had flown out of his hands before he had blacked out on impact.

"Why?" a voice asked that originated from the man in the shadows, only to be lightly revealed when another spray of sparks sprayed from a destroyed display.

Once he saw the man's appearance, the Enclave swallowed as he recognized a discription given to everyone.

He had thought this man was a simple raider. Or some lunatic who had drank too much iradiated water. Maybe some mutated filth. But the man before him was far worse then any of those.

"Answer me." the man comanded as he started walking closer to the now pinicing trapped man.

The first thing he noticed was the helmet. The scratched red domed visor reflected his own sweaty, panicking form back at him. Second was the duster that covered him. Third were the ripper in one hand, and an army knife in the other. That knife was still covered in blood, and was held by a hand missing two finger.

"I said…I said answer me you fucking Enclave piece of shit!" the one known as 101 shouted with a voice that lingered in the vertibird.

The voice was crazy. He also sounded as if he didn't care what was said. Just that he had been heard. First he would be calm while speaking, and then he would spontaneously lash out with a fast tone. "Talk… Answer a question please!" he then laughed as he noticed his raise in volume had awakened another survivor. "Maybe he answers the question?"

With some snickering, he turned away from the first man, who saw this as an opportunity to escape. But his harness wouldn't open.

"W…what?" a drowsy voice asked from the other side of the space.

He couldn't see who it was, since the crazy man was blocking his view. As he franticly looked around him, he spotted a knife on the body next to him. But it was on the other side of the man, and he wouldn't be able to reach.

"No…No! No!" he heard as a small engine came to life, almost at the same time as a scream was heard.

He could hear the sound of the man's armor being ripped to shreds by the ripper that caused so much noise in the vertitbird.

Forgetting what he had said to himself a few second ago about the knife's distance, he reached, and tried to pull himself closer to the weapon.

"Need help?" the voice asked out of his vision.

This time the voice sounded a little intrigued towards what the man was doing. The Enclave turned his head to the voices origin, only to wish he haden't when he realized the man was standing right in front of him. Only this time the helmet was gone.

A large crimson smear was on the dirty and disturbing appearance the face had. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as if he was expecting it to burst out of his chest.

"Can you help me with something?" the man asked in what the Enclave thought was a more calculative voice. Far calmer then he was a few seconds ago. Taking the man's lack of a response as a yes, 101 continued talking. "I want you to help me diliver a message. Interested?"

The man felt a sliver of hope at those words. Deliver. To do that he would have to be able to leave. He would have to be alive. He would be spared!

But would he condem those left behind?

"Yes…Yess!" he shouted as 101 started to cut the man's harness.

He would be free! He would be saved! The…message?" he asked in a trembling voice.

Shortly after he fell to the floor when the last strap of his harness was cut. The pain of the impact was put to the side as he righted himself. Once he was up on his feet he took a step back from the man he cut him free.

"It's simple. Simple… really simple." he started as he placed a hand on the man's shoulder that flinched at the action. "Cherish the time you have left on this earth."

With that, 101 stepped to the side for the man to leave.

He was stunned. "That's it?" he asked in disbelief. "That's all? I… can go? Just like that?"

101 just stood there as he pointed to the hole cut into the aircraft. For a moment he felt as if he had been saved by God. He would survive!

Not wanting the man to change his mind, the Enclave ran through the hole in the wall. He could avenge his fallen comrades. He can report 101's last known location! That is if he could make it to the nearest outpost.

He could…

101 watched from the hole as the man ran farther and farther away. He played with a small device in his hand.

"Filth." he mumbled as what he knew was about to happen caused a sadistic smile to sprout.

He could see him running over a hill in the distance. The confident strides the man took, told 101 there was an outpost, or something similar nearby in the direction.

The smile grew wider as he lifted the detenater as if it was a gun, and aimed at the armored form in the far off distence.

Why would he spare them? They did not diserve his pity. His mercy.

He gave the enemey a moment of hope. Only to take it away cruelly. He was telling the truth about him delivering a message. The words were not it however. The Enclave soldier would be the message. The words were directed towards the mesinger.

The man had been out longer then he thought he was. His fear towards 101, his haste to leave. If he would take a moment to reach a hand to feel the C4 explosive strapped between his shoulder blades, he could have easily ripped it off and ran like a demon possessed.

He didn't however.

No Enclave will be spared from his hatred. None will escape his revenge upon the killers of the one he loved in this misrible existence. They will be purged just as ruthlessly as he had witnessed they're own towards those with the smallest differences. With no mercy to those they crushed under their heel in this farce attempt for power. Even more so.

He was a slave to his emotions. He followed the Enclave leaving a path of destruction in his wake.

The smile dropped to a look of sadness.

His finger tightened slowly on the trigger as he spoke quietly. "Sarah." he started as his voice started to crack. "I won't stop. I won't stop until I… avenge you. Please…wait for me."

With that last word… he pulled the trigger.)

Plague let out a long sigh.

He felt as if he left his job unfinished. New home meant no more Enclaves. No one to hate. If it wasn't for Aria and Shepard, he would not have had a purpose in this new world.

Now he did. He will help Shepard fight the Reapers. To do so he had to make sure he did not have a negative impact on the other members of the ground team. Sure he snapped at Miranda. But it was not going to prevent her performance…. Ok… maybe a little… but in a slightly positive way since she would mind people's privacy.

Those thoughts were distracting him from what he was actually thinking about. So he swept them to the side so he could go back to his earlier topic.

Kasumi Goto…

It rare for someone to give him something without asking for anything in return. For some reason, he didn't he started to become irritated. Not at the thief. But irritated at the fact he didn't know how to respond.

He felt like he had to do something. Anything. He hated debts.

If he simply had to just hand something over… he would do so and get it over with by giving her one of his weapons… or something.

But no. she had to put effort into restoring his duster.

He had to put some effort into it.

He thought of Shepard's advice. Sure Kasumi stole that information out of him. But she didn't do anything with it. Didn't spread it. She didn't try to blackmail him.

If he had to give her something, it had to be as equally worked on. He wished he still had his stealth suit. She seemed to like that. But no. it was burned and had to be cut off of him after the mission. He salvaged the cloaking device, and his helmet was still working perfectly.

Re atomizing his helmet in mid thought, he put it on his head as the data flew past his view. He didn't have to mess with anything. It simply read his eye movements, and adjusted accordingly, and selected the data he focused on.

His free hand was messing with his pipboy.

Over the eight years he had been out of the vault, he had added many forms of data and schematics. Medical notes, locations, maps, desighns for weaponry and armors…

He paused when he looked at one design he hadn't seen in a while in his pipboy, a copy of an AI… and the measurements of the last human female who had put on his helmet.

* * *

><p><strong>Hope you guys liked the chapter. I thought you guys would like a glimps of Plague in one of his darker moments. the flashback took place post Fallout 3 before Fallout New Vegas. A year and a half since Sareh's death. This is also the time he lost his mind and enjoyed torturing his enemies. this was way before Fallout New Vegas where he started to regain his sanity.<strong>

**Ok what should i ask?... Who is the other quarian surviver you meet when you get Tali? **

**k see ya around all.**


	16. Chapter 16 I'm Walking On Sunshine

Alright everyone, I have news. There is a reason a uploaded this chapter today. IT'S MY B DAY PEOPLE!

Anyway now that that's out of the way. The last question was who was the quarian survived when you get Tali on Haestrom?

Answer is Kal'Reeger

winner is Umbra8191

The Wildcard

Chapter 16

"I'm telling you. You're turning into a pussy." Jack warned as she sat on Plague's cot.

When she came in and saw Plague looking at a holographic display of a female form on his Omni tool, she thought she could tease him for laughs. But, once she looked over his shoulder at the workbench she could only roll her eyes as a look of disgust appeared on her face.

Would have been funnier if he was looking at porn. Instead he was using a welding torch on, what she guessed was, a palladium lined breastplate, while wearing the helmet that had inspired his nickname. The "Female Form" turned out to be a 3d model with measurements.

"There is nothing wrong with me being creative, and making sure I am not getting rusty." Plague retorted. Not looking at her.

"You're not going to be wearing that though." she shot back, and then developed a coy smile when she noticed the breastplates shape. Especially in the front. "That is unless you are into that kind of thing."

With that, he turned off the torch as he turned to her. All the while Jack still wore that shit eating grin.

"I could be making you're new attire."

At those words, Jack's eyes widened for a second before they narrowed. "Really?"

"Fuck no." Plague answered as he went back to his work.

"Humph. Whatever, Fishbowl." she said as she started walking to the door. "Enjoy your homemade lingerie. Don't forget to sway those hips."

The only response he gave her was the robotic middle finger rising into the air over his shoulder. To add to the effect, the finger actually spun completely around doing a 360. "Sit and spin, Bitch." were the last words she heard before the door closed on her face as her jaw was hanging open slightly.

Taylor Shepard POV

"Nearing Haestrom now Commander. ETA twenty minutes." Joker announced over the COM while Shepard left the armory.

"Good. Tell Garrus and Zaeed to meet me in the cargo bay." she ordered as she altered her path to now go to her cabin to change into her armor.

"Will do, Commander."

Garrus Vakarian POV

"It's Tali?" Garrus asked in surprise as he stepped into the Kodiak.

His old friend had a slightly cheerful look as she sat in the seat across from him. "That's right." she answered. Her expression then went to one of worry as she looked at him. "By the way. How's your arm?"

"A little stiff." He answered as he subconsciously moved his arm to fix the problem. Harbinger had thrown him pretty hard into that container. If he had human skin, he would most likely be sporting a collection of dark bruises. "Thank the spirits for a metallic exoskeleton." he said to himself.

His Commander let out a short chuckle as she checked her M-4 Shuriken before a look of seriousness showed itself. "Plague and Kasumi took most of the hits though." she said as Garrus's mood changed.

"Yeah." Garrus agreed as he started to think. "Harbinger almost killed, Plague."

Now that he thought about it. After he was thrown away from the group, Harbinger singled Plague out as a primary target.

He looked up to see his Commander with an equally thoughtful look. "He saw something." Shepard voiced his thoughts. "He saw something we can't."

Sure Plague was a good guy to have at your side in a gunfight. But he had to voice his concerns. "Something's not right with him Shepard." Shepard looked at him as he spoke. "I have seen people with his eyes. He's a killer. I have tried to get along with him. But something is seriously wrong with that man."

"What have you seen, Garrus?" she asked as she looked to see if anyone was around the shuttle.

"Back on Horizon, he took a lot of hits." he reminded. "And let's not forget when he met Miranda. What really worries me is his attitude at the moment."

Garrus couldn't help but notice how Shepard's eyes widened a little. "I talked to him the other day." she started. "He actually asked me for advice on how to act towards an argument between him and another member of the crew. At least I think it was an argument."

"That's not what the problem is." the turian complained as he absorbed what she said. "First of all, I smell things." he looked at the face she was making and corrected his wording. "I smell it. Grunt smells it. I am not imagining this. He smells like he crawled through a sea of burning corpses, Shepard!"

He was not making this up. He knew the smell was faint. But he knew what he smelled.

"I heard about this from Grunt back on Purgatory." she said. "Said he smelled like decay and battery acid."

"He acts like a nice guy. I'm not saying he isn't…"

"But." Shepard guessed his next word.

"But… every nerve in my body is telling me to do one of two things. Get everyone on this ship as far away from him as possible, or shoot before he turns on us."

Shepard looked at him as she put her weapon away. "He could leave at any time, Garrus." she started to say. "He won't take anymore resources then what he needs. And he refuses to give anything to Cerberus. I see how the crew looks at him."

She had a point. When ever Plague was in a room, some of the Cerberus crew would give him this look. It was like a predator looking at a wounded dangerous animal. They want to start eating, but the big guy could still take them out. "So we know for sure he is not Cerberus. But what if it was just an act?"

She looked as if she was about to answer until the topic of they're conversation stepped out of the elevator and started walking to the shuttle. "Plague? I didn't call you to the cargo hold."

The man tilted a nonexistent hat as he looked at them. As far as reading human facial expressions go, Garrus thought he looked a little tired with something on his mind.

"I'm not going with you, Boss." he answered as he stepped closer to hand Sheppard a data pad. "Was hoping you would let me requisition more palladium and iridium. AI says I need to ask you."

"What do you need it for?" Garrus asked as he examined the man, but showed a friendly attitude.

"Just a project." he answered as he gave the data pad to, Shepard.

"EDI." Shepard called as Garrus saw Zaeed walking out of the elevator. "Give Plague what he needs, please."

"Logged Commander Shepard." the AI announced.

"Anything else?" she asked as she handed the data pad back.

"That would be all, Boss." he said as he started to turn to walk away. "Careful groundside. It would be a shame to see such a pretty face with a round in the head."

Garrus watched Plague as he passed Zaeed and entered the lift. "Sure that was a good idea?"

Shepard gave him a look as she sat back in her seat. "If he wanted to kill us, he would have done it already."

Taylor Shepard POV

'It's hot!' was the first thing to enter Shepard's mind as she stepped out of the shuttle.

They had landed in the shade on the scorching planet and she still felt like she was trapped in an oven. Thankfully she had on the nerve suit under her hard suit. The scenery was interesting though. She had learned a lot about the quarian people from Tali in the time it took for them to take down Saren. Sadly her friend did not go over anything involving quarian architecture. Tall stone white towers reached for the sky as if waiting for those who built them to return, while she made out orange walkways connecting the towers together. The gleam from the sun hitting the building's walls caused her to wince her eyes a little as she took in the details.

Sure the buildings were an empty shell of what they used to be. But that didn't mean the structures were any less beautiful. She wished she could have seen them in they're prime. To think of how far the race of brilliant engineers had fallen made Shepard feel a strong sense of pity towards her friend and her people.

She turned back to see the other two members of the ground team step out of the shuttle and watched as their moods changed as they exited the cool air-conditioned vehicle and into the baking heat.

"Alright. Stay close and keep an eye out for any Geth or Quarians." she ordered as she took out her pistol and lead them forward.

As the other two pulled out their rifles, Garrus spoke. "I feel like I am wrapped in tinfoil." he complained as he followed his Commander on her left with the second human taking her right.

"Felt worse." the merc replied as a gloved hand wiped away some sweat off of his brow. "Still a pain in the ass."

"If we stay in the shade, we should be fine." the turian advised.

Shepard ran out of the shade to get to the next shadow as her team did the same. All of they'er shields complained from the abuse from the solar assault until they reached the next sanctuary.

"Agreed." the only woman in the group said as she fanned herself with a hand.

And she thought being in the shade was bad.

"Barricade up ahead." Zaeed anounced as they run through the sunshine again once their shields recharged.

Shepard looked ahead to see the man was right. There was an orange door blocking them. She looked to her right to see what she didn't expect to see. An orange door with a green holographic display.

"Over there." she ordered as she ran ever.

She couldn't believe the place still had at least some power. Again she thought about how brilliant the engineers were. The planet hadn't been attended to for quite a long time. To have the generators still working was, if anything, proof that the quarians were not to be looked down upon. But admired.

Garrus and Zaeed took both sides of the door while she took point.

As she opened the door she heard what had to have been a recording starting up as the doors revealed a blue holographic terminal and what she really didn't want to see.

"Emergency log entry. The geth are here."

Right across from her was the still form of a quarian with a black and yellow suit with a yellow mask on the ground next to a lamp to the right of the terminal. "I've stayed to bye the others time."

"Brave man." she silently complimented the late quarian soldier. Instinctively, Shepard's right hand started to build biotic energy as she looked around the room to see that right next to her was another body. This one was bright red. She let out a sigh when she realized it was not another quatian, but a deactivated geth. 'Not Tali.'

The quarian must have taken a hit right before he took down the geth. He must have died from an infection. There was a med kit next to the terminal which leads her to believe he was trying to seal the breach in his suit.

"Anyone who gets this, find Tali'Zhorah. She and that data are all that matters." hearing those words she looked at the terminal. "Keelah se'lai."

'We will.' she promised in her thoughts as she bowed her head slightly to give the man a moment of silence.

"We need to get moving Shepard." Garrus reminded as he passed her to get to a second terminal that looked at the blockade door.

As the turian worked at terminal, Shepard search both bodies for thermal clips. She was careful to not disturb the quarin as much as possible as she searched his belt.

He had been dead a while, but she could still make out the familiar smell of the suit that had been melted with a plasma weapon. Her emotions were a little mixed up.

Ever since she had been brought back, she had to concentrate on a new enemy. An enemy she was unfamiliar with. Now she was back in her element. She had taken down hundreds of geth. With that in mind, she felt a familiar growing hatred.

Eden Prime. Her friend, Kaiden. The attack on the Citadel. With all of those thoughts in her mind, she was tempted to fire into the geth's body until it cost her a thermal clip.

But she had to remain collected. She had to remain quiet in case there were geth nearby. She had to get her friend off of this planet.

Plague POV

"So instead of strength enhancement, you are trying to create a cybernetic weave that can both predict, and hasten the movements of the wearer? Would recommend bypassing the connection fibers here." the salarian suggested as he pointed to a part of the hologram while standing over Plague's shoulder.

101 had asked the Doctor to come down to engineering to help him combine what little technologies he had brought with him, and what he now found himself working with. Mordin said he had nothing to do for exactly seven minutes. So he had to work fast to bring the alien up to speed on what he was working on. Thankfully he grasped the concepts quickly.

Letting out an irritated sigh, Plague voiced what he was thinking. "Sure it looks good. But that kind of arrangement would hinder the power flow. The power wouldn't flow evenly throughout the suit."

The salarian "hmmmed" as he cupped his chin that Plague had thought was too small to be cupped in a hand in the first place. "Then start from scratch." Plague was about to argue until Mordin explained. "This whole time you have been trying to get one small power source to power two fairly complicated pieces of technology." he then looked at the measurements and then looked back at the second hologram. "She has her own cloaking system built within her Omni-tool. Building one within the suit would be both unnecessary, and a waist."

Plague turned on him quickly in his seat as his eyes opened wide in shock. "What makes you think I'm building this for anyone?" he almost yelled.

"Those measurements are Kasumi Goto's. Correct?" he asked as Plague mentally slapped himself.

The alien was a walking calculator combined with a thesaurus, and the mutated offspring from a romantic joining from someone in the Think Tank, and a biologist with a brain mutation caused by walking too close to a radioactive can of lead paint… Now that he thought about it that made absolutely no sense.

Taylor Shepard POV

"Concussive shot!" Shepard yelled from her cover behind a fallen column.

As soon as they got the barricade door out of the way, a geth drop ship came out of newair and stayed just long enough to drop off some troops.

Thankfully the area had a good amount of shade, unless you walked to the right from the barricade door to the raised walkway. It looked like a good sniping position. But she didn't want to risk it. If she sent Garrus up there his shields would be fried every time he got up to take a shot. At some point the geth would all focus on him at once. His shields would be too damaged to protect him properly.

She saw Garrus to her left inserting another thermal clip, while Zaeed was behind a container that had to have been left by the quarians here. He leaned out of cover and launched a concussive shot that blow a trooper to bits.

She went back into her cover to switch her pistol for her M-4 Shuriken. She was about to shoot from over her cover when Zaeed yelled.

"Shepard! Year right!"

Her back was to her cover. She looked just in time to see a geth trooper crocheting around the corner in an attempt to flank her and Garrus. Right as she saw it, her biotics came to life as the geth was wrapped in a blue aura.

When she moved her hand in a downward motion, the machine was forced to the ground as it was then dragged across the surface to stop right in front of her and Garrus's feet.

Before it could react, it was shot almost point blank in the head by two separate weapons. One a sniper rifle round. The other an M-4 Shuriken burst.

"Got a little creative with those biotics, Shepard." Garrus complimented as he sniped another trooper.

"I aim to please." she said back as she readied a shockwave.

The wave went across the battlefield and collided into two geth, making them slam into the walls in the surrounding environment.

"Zaeed. Move up!" she then looked to Garrus as her breathing became a little quicker from the two biotic acts she had just preformed. "Cover us from back her. Once I signal you, move up to a next position." she then narrowed his eyes at him as she grabbed the front of his armor to pull him a little closer so he could hear what she was going to say over the gunfire. "Stay away from the raised walkway! It's too exposed."

Receiving a nod, she let go as she climbed over the cover. She ran towards a trooper who was about to aim at her. Before it could fire, it was lifted into the air as gravity stopped holding it to the ground.

Since it was not high off the ground yet, she hit it in the head with her weapon, making it lazily begin to go back. Before it went far, a sniper shot took its head apart as Shepard had already passed it.

She ran down the ramp into the lowered platform and slid into cover next to Zaeed he was giving her covering fire.

"Shepard." Garrus's voice came over the com. "I see three geth above your position."

Almost as soon as they were informed, gunfire raned down on them from above, causing the two to intictivly cover their heads with there arms as they got as close to the box shaped square they were using as cover.

Thankfully, the geth were at an awkward position to fire at them directly. Sadly, the same could be said for the organic party.

"Shit!" Zaeed yelled as his shields failed and a shot clipped his arm.

"You alright?" she yelled as the large looked like he was trying to become one with his cover. Good thing she had a fit slim figure. She didn't have to worry as much about a lucky shot.

"Yeah!" he answered in a frustrated voice. "Not all of us can become a walking stick!" he let out another curse as a shot came close to hitting his foot.

Shepard would have thought the scene was comical if she wasn't getting shot at as well.

"Incoming Concussive shot." Garrus announced, followed by a small projectile sailing across the war zone.

Shepard watched the white streak as it flew over them and exploded somewhere on the upper walkway.

All motion on the walkway stopped as Shepard gave herself a biotic barrier when she got out of cover to take the next position. "Garrus. Move up!"

"On it… Rocket incoming!" he yelled as Shepard was thrown to the side by a rocket that hit a wall next to her.

She felt the strain on her biotic shields as it took most of the damage. Her kinetic barrier went out instantly. The barrier she made with her biotics went out of existence when her head slammed into a wall as her form hit the ground.

"Shepard! Shepard, get up!" shouted Garrus over the sounds of another rocket hitting a wall and the ringing she heard as she felt pain in the back of her head.

Her vision was slightly blured as she touched a tender spot on her head as the rest of her body pulled itself to sit against the wall she had been thrown into by the explosion.

As she moved her neck a certan way she felt a flash of pain from the base of her skull. "Damnit…" she groaned as she realized what it was.

Her biotic amp was damaged. Usiuly a biotic amp was located in the lower neck area. It was strange for her to have it located at the base of her skull.

'Miranda's gunna be maaaaad.' she thought to herself as she looked at her hand to see a wetnes on the black fabric covering her fingers. Shepard grabbed the weapon next to her as she placed a hand on the wall to help her pull herself up. 'Tali. You damn well better be thankfull.'

"Shepard." Garrus called as he ran up to her position when the lost geth was dealt with. He slowed down when he saw her red handprint on the wall next to her as he took out some Omni-gel.

"I'm fine Garrus." she voiced out as the turian walked behind her and took out her hair braid so that he could get to the injury. "Hey!" she almost shouted when he dropped it on the ground.

"Sit still Shepard." Zaeed said in an annoyed sounding voice.

"Her amp is fried." Garrus announced as she felt his talons touching the back of her head.

She heard a tired sigh come from the old merc who put his rifle on his back.

"No more biotics until you get this looked at, Shepard." he said as she felt the cool sensation of Omni-gel being applied.

"I know better." she voiced as she closed her eyes as she felt the cool gel go to work.

She had seen a lot of things. She knew what would happen if someone tried to use biotics with a damaged amp. She had seen the energy build up on the inside of an individual and watched as a biotic bubble slowly grow inside the pit of his stomach, making him explode. Others she had seen had started building up energy they couldn't release and had the energy force its way out of their body any why it can. And she meant "Any" way, including making its own exit.

Both incidences looked extremely painful. She knew better then to risk it.

She bent down to retrieve her braid as her hair started to cover her eyes. "We wasted enough time. We need to…" she trailed off as more gunfire was heard nearby.

Everyone got tense and started running in the direction of the shooting. As she ran, Shepard stowed away her braid in an empty compartment of her suit. She then pulled out her pistol.

When they turned, they saw three geth shooting at someone out of view around the next corner. They all started shooting when one geth fell to the ground. Everything went quiet as the last geth was put down.

The ground team ran around the corner expecting to find the quarian survivors, but when they got there they only found half of what they wanted to find. Quarians? Yes. Survivors? No.

Three corpses lay before them. Two men. One woman. Shepard crouched down to look at the quarian woman closely as she felt a tug on something inside of her.

"Damnit!" Shepard yelled as she saw the plasma burns. "We should have got here faster." she said angrily as she rolled the woman on her back and placed the quarians hands on her chest.

"Shepard…" Garrus started but was silenced when Shepard spun around to look at him with a glare as she rose.

"What Garrus?" she sneered. "What were you going to say Vakarian?" she walked up to him as she put her weapon away. "It's not my fault? I shouldn't have wasted our time with my injury? What?" she yelled as her eyes narrowed even more.

She knew it was her fault. If she hadn't have ran for the next piece of cover, if she had seen the rocket coming, if she had been more careful, those quarians would still be alive right now. 'If I had been faster…'

She didn't know why she was yelling at her friend. She looked at the turian and saw the hurt look on his face as she let out a long breath. "Garrus… I…" she was cut off by one of the quarian's come links.

"Break-break-break. OP-1, this is squad leader Kel'Reager, do you copy?" a gravely male voice spoke. She searched the quarian the com was on, and picked up the device. "The geth sent a dropship to OP-2. Tali'Zorah's secure, but we need backup."

A wave of hope hit Shepard as she listened. 'She's alive!'

"We're bunkered up here. Can you send supp…?"

"This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy." she interrupted. "I couldn't get to this squad in time. You guys are the first survivors I've heard from." the last part was said in a more grim tone as she looked in the distence and could see some quarians holding a position.

"Damn… Wait. Shepard? The Spectre Tali worked with? …I don't know why your hear, but right now any organic is a welcome sight." the tone in his voice started to sound more hopeful in Shepard's ears.

"Tali talks about us?" Garrus voiced out, sounding surprised.

"Patch your radio into channel 617 Theta." the quarian instructed. Almost instantly everyone followed his instructions. As soon as the com was set she heard him in her earpiece. "We were on a stealth mission. High risk. We found what we were after, but the geth found us. They've got us pinned down. Cant get to our ship, can't transmit data through the solar radiation."

"What's your situation? How many of you are there?" Shepard asked as she picked up a thermal clip next to the quarian she found the com link.

"We were a small squad. Dozen marines, plus the science team." he explained. "We're down to half-strength now. Made the synthetic bastards pay for it though."

'We need to get there fast.' she thought before speaking. "How are you holding up? We can be there in a few minutes."

"Take it slow and careful. Direct sunlight fries your shields all to hell." the quarian warned. "We're bunkered down at base camp across the valley. I left Tali'Zorah at a secure shelter, then doubled back to hold the checkpoint. Getting Tali out safely is our top priority. If you could extract her, we'll keep them off you."

"Are you absolutely sure the geth have not got to Tali yet?" Shepard asked as she took out her pistol.

"Affirmative. Left my best men with her. When you get here, you can talk to her on the comm."

"Alright. We are going in." Shepard informed.

Before she could start moving, Kel'Reager started talking over the com. "Wait! Watch your ass! We've got a dropship coming in!"

Just as the man said. A geth dropship flew over the structures to get to the quarian position where two marines were trying to hold they're own against the ranks of geth hiding behind cover.

At first she thought they were just going to drop off more troops. But that ship was getting to close to just dropping reinforcements. "Kel'Reager. Get your men inside!"

Her warning was to late. The ship fired a barrage of plasma charged projectiles headed towards the quarians. Before they could get behind some cover, they were consumed by the resulting purple explosion.

Her team had started moving forward as soon as the dropship left, as if it was satisfied by the two lives it had just taken out of existence. Shepard wanted to use her biotics to either pull the possible survivors out of the way of the falling pillar, or use them to slow down, or alter the path of the structure. She felt the energy building within her, but before she could have put it to use, her head suddenly felt like it was on fire.

"Damnit, Shepard." shouted Garrus as he grabbed her arm while the other was holding her head.

She was pulled to cover as she heard the piller fall, and couldn't help but wince when she heard the sound of bones and everything on the quarians bodies being crushed under the weight.

The geth troopers had spotted them. Well she guessed they spotted them. Who else could be hitting their cover.

She fought with the pain in her skull as she gave the two commands. "Garrus. Give Zaeed cover fire. Zaeed. Move up."

The sounds of the surrounding gunfire felt like drums in her head. She picked up her weapon and aimed out of cover as the two men followed the orders given to them. Her eyes zeroed in on a ripple in the air coming up the ramp to their location. "Cloaked geth!" she shouted as she started firing.

Once the geth was hit, Zaeed and Garrus mowed it down after they bright down its shields.

Once the third geth fell, she heard a familiar voice in her ear. "Crap. Doorway's blocked!" hearing that, they all looked to see that the pillar Shepard had tried to stop was blocking them. If she didn't know any better she would have thought the pillar was mocking her. "Grab the demo charges in the buildings nearby! Use them to clear a path!"

Plague POV

"I get a new friend?" a computerized voice asked in a loud childish manner.

Out of all of the AI's he could have picked, why did he pick this one?

The voice sounded a lot like a young teen with a cheerful feminen voice. He thought it would match Kasumi nicely since the thief was always seemed to be high in spirits. That was until he had his little outburst a few days ago. He hated the state he put her in. Maybe if she had something to make her smile. Even a little…

He sat on his bunk as he voiced his answer to the program still in his pipboy. "Yes. But you need to be a little quieter. She…" he didn't get to finish before he was interrupted by a loud voice.

"My friend is going to be a girl? Yay! I'm going to have a sister!" before his ears could bleed, he muted the AI as he rubbed his temples.

When he picked the AI he thought Kasumi would like a happy cute sounding voice to talk to. But if it continued like that it would drive the woman insane. "You are going to have to quiet down! She is a thief, which means you have to be silent when you should be. Now. I am going to un mute you."

Once he did so, he was a little surprised by the following silence until he heard the AI spoke quietly in a whisper. "No one's as unnoticed and quiet as me."

Taylor Shepard POV

"Our ancestors walked these halls with uncovered heads. The sun must have been normal back then." I familiar quarian voice said in the log. It felt good to hear her voice again. After spending the last twenty minutes fighting through geth to get those charges Shepard needed something to put a smile on her face. "So much space. Walls of stone… it's amazing. I wish my friends could see it. I wish Shepard were here."

Shepard looked to her side to see Garrus with a small smile like she had. 'We are here.'

Backing away from the log, Shepard started looking through the next terminal trying to find the com. It wasn't until a voice started talking accros the room, that she found it.

"Hello?" Tali spoke as her image appeared above the terminal. "Is anyone there?"

"Hello, little sister." Shepard greeted as she walked up to the device with a large grin on her face. "And yes, Tali. This world is beautiful."

"Shepard?" the quarian asked in serprise as she did a doubletake. "I'm not complaining, but you show up at the strangest times! What are you doing in the middle of geth space?"

"You saying I can't just stop by to visit a friend?" Shepard asked with a mock depressing tone. "We can talk about it after we geth you out of here."

"Agreed. Kel'Reeger and whats left of the marines got me into the observatory. From where you are, it's through the door and across the field. I got the data I needed, and I'm safe for now, but I've got a lot of geth outside."

After a quick glance, Shepard looked back at the quarian with an iritated look. "Somebody sealed off the door. Think you can do anything from your side?"

"Let me see…" her hands looked like she was working on a keybord as she answered. "Yes, I can do it. Here." the door's display turned green as she manipulated her controls. "Should be unlocked now." she then looked up at her with her soulders lowered slightly. "Be careful, Shepard. And please, do what ever you can to keep Reeger alive."

With those last words, the link was turned off.

"Right." she said as she walked to the door.

After a few turns in the small tunnle they finally made it back outside. The whole time Shepard was holding her pistol, so she was ready for the two drones that appeared before them. Without a word, she and Garrus shot down the two machines. The whole ground team went behind cover when they saw more drones flying in their direction.

Small and fast. that's how a drone worked. They practicly have nothing to defend themselves against the accelerated rounds other then their maneuverability.

With both Garrus and Zaeed's rifles they were better equipped to deal with the swarm of drones moving towards the group. Shepard stayed low as she took pot shots at the few drones that made it past their defenses.

It wasn't until a geth prime came around the corner in an attempt to flank them that they had a problem.

"The drones were a distraction!" shouted Zaeed as they moved to a piece of cover that would defend from both they drones and prime.

Shepard fired a few rounds at the geth only to curse as the assault was simply absorbed by the geth's shields like a sponge.

"Launching an overload!" the turian next to her shouted as a spray of sparks fired out from parts of the geth's form.

For a few seconds the three organics peppered the geth at the same time until it finally fell to the ground before it could take down Zaeed's shields.

Once the main threat was gone, everyone switched their focus back on the approaching mass of drones.

"How many are there?" Zaeed shouted as the seconds ticked by.

The ground around them was littered with debris from the decimated drones they had shot down.

The question was answered until the flow of drones started to decrease.

"Move up." Shepard shouted once the last drone was shot down.

"Finally. Thought that would never end." she heard Garrus mumble as he followed behind her.

She would have voiced her agreement if it hadn't been for another geth prime walking around the corner just to her right.

Time seemed to slow down as she heard the sound of a knife being drawn. Zaeed's form appeared as he jammed the long combat knife into the geths flashlight like eye. Instinctively Shepard and Garrus charged forward and rammed their shoulders into the geth's torso as it was trying to adapt with the loss of its eyesight.

The sudden impact caused the machine to tilt and fall to the ground on its back once gravity started to make itself known. As it fell, it fired its plasma shots into the air were it couldn't cause any damage. Once the synthetic was on the ground everyone aimed and fired at point blank, far too close for the shields to register the threat.

Her heartbeat started to slow down as she fired the last round into the geth's head. Getting off of the large machine, she extracted Zaeed's knife and handed it to the merc.

"Fast thinking." she complimented as Garrus grabbed her hand to help her up.

The merc sheathed his blade before making a reply. "Faster we get off this rock the better." he said, sounding irritated.

Rolling her eyes, Shepard switched her thermal clip as she signaled them to fallow her to the door ahead. Like before. Zaeed and Garrus stood at the sides as she took point. The door opened and they all went in. what they found was an empty room.

After a quick sweep of the room, Shepard figured she had to activate the terminal in front of some shutters to open the blast door to her left.

After a few seconds, both the door and the shutters started opening. And she instantly wished she could close them back.

Across a large area was toppled pillars and construction equipment. She also saw the area was teeming with geth and a large mass in the distance.

"Colossus!" Garrus shouted as the large metal form turned to them.

Seeing the bluish glow start to form around the large geth's head she shouted to the others who already started to move. "Get down!"

As everyone hit the deck, the plasma charge hit the console causing sparks and shrapnel to fly all over the room. Everyone recovered quickly and started running out the door that had opened to find themselves on a lower walkway under the shutters they had opened.

"Over here! Get to cover!" a quarian shouted on the walkway.

As plasma fire ripped into the surrounding surfaces the ground team crouched down for cover around the quarian with a red and gold suit and gold visor holding a rocket launcher.

"Squad Leader Kal'Reeger." the quarian introduced as his head dipped down a little when a stray shot went by. "Migrant Fleet Marines. We talked on the radio before that dropship arrived. Still got no idea why you're here, but this is not the time to be picky." they both were sent a little off balance as the Colossus fired another charge at them and hit a nearby wall. "Tali's inside over there. The geth killed the rest of my squad, and they're trying to get to her. Best I've been able to do is draw their attention."

"Are you sure she's still alive?" Shepard shouted over the gunfire.

"The observatory is reinforced. Even the geth will need time to get through it. And it's hard to hack a door when someone's firing rockets at you. The geth are near platoon strength, but the colossus is the worst part. It's got a repair protocol. Huddles up and fixes itself. I can't get a clear shot while it's down like that. I tried to move in closer. And one of the bastards punched a shot clean through my suit."

"How bad is your suit damage?" Shepard asked as she tried to look over cover only to pull her head back down quickly when it was almost blown off.

"Combat seals clamped down to isolate contamination, and I'm swimming in antibiotics." he answered. "The geth might get me, but I'm not going to die from an infection in the middle of battle. That's just insulting."

"Any idea of how to deal with the colossus?" she asked as the problem took that as it's cue to try to hit them again.

"Standard protocol with armature-class units is to sabotage the shields and whittle it down, you know. Kill it with bug bites."

"Have a feeling that won't work here." Garrus remarked.

"He's right. The repair protocol blows that plan to hell. You try to whittle it down, it just huddles up and fixes itself." he explained. "Whatever we do has to scrap that bastard fast. Probably means getting up close, past that cover."

"What's the plan here?" Shepard yelled as another explosion was heard. "Any ideas?"

"Just one. I'm not moving so well, but I can still pull a trigger, and I've got a rocket launcher that the sun hasn't fried yet. You move in close. I'll…" he started to say before Shepard jumped in.

"You've done enough Reeger. Stay put."

"Wasn't asking your permission. My job is to keep Tali safe. This is our best…" he was about to stand out of cover to fire a rocket, but Shepard grabbed him and brought him behind the wall next to the catwalk.

"We don't have enough people on our side for you to take one for the team!" she shouted over the rounds firing.

"I'm not going to stand there while you run into enemy fire!" he yelled back. "They killed my whole squad!"

"And if you want to honer your squad, you will stay down and watch my back!" she yelled even louder as they both crouched back down. "This is no time for you to defend your pride while dying at the same time! Too many people have died here already for you to just throw your life away!"

Shepard couldn't see the quarian's face, but she had a feeling he was giving her a glare before he finaly let out a grunt in annoyance. "All right. We'll do it your way. Hit them for me. Kela se'lai."

"Garrus. Give us covering fire back here. Zaeed. You're with me. We're going up the left side." she ordered as the turian switched to his sniper rifle while the merc gave her a nod.

Shepard and Zaeed ran down the ramp from the catwalk to the first cover the could see. It was a row of different sized pillars. Tall to short from right to left. The geth started shooting at them and that gave Garrus the opening he needed to aim and score a headshot on a trooper coming down the walkway from the right. The sun had already fried its shields so it went down in one shot. Same reason why she had denied her friend from using the similar walkways on the way here.

Shepard looked out of cover after switching to her shuriken to spray a geth as Zaeed fired at another geth near the one she was shooting. Once they both fell, the two organics moved to the next cover to the left of the pillars they had been using.

Shepard slid behind a medium sized crate while Zaeed ran past her to get to the next sanctuary as she covered him. If any of the geth tried to get them by going the way they came, then they would be funneling in. making them easy targets for Garrus.

The direction they took provided cover from the colossus so they only had to worry about the smaller synthetics.

The way the fight was going, they would deal with the gath quickly. The only problem showed itself was the geth destroyer that decided to rush them while its flamethrower was burning the air before it. It was focusing on Shepard, making it unprepared for Zaeed who shot it from the side.

The colossus was heard trying to move to a better vantage point only to find out it had limited mobility.

Shepard was behind another crate while Zaeed was behind another to her left. The containers were taking a lot of damage, so she couldn't tell how long they would last under the machine's abuse.

She had switched to her Collector particle beam and fired at it every time its attention was away from her, while Zaeed did the same with concussive shots. Garrus fired at it from a distance and would occasionally fire a concussive shot of his own whenever he got a chance.

At first she thought they were not doing any damage until she noticed a few sparks here and there to reward her for her trouble. It was with a final concussive shot from Zaeed that the thing finally went down as sparks and flame erupted from some openings.

"The colossus is down." she reported to Garrus who would be having a little trouble seeing from has vantage point.

"Right, Shepard. I'm on my way. Reeger says he will join us in a minute."

Garrus made it to the group a few seconds after Shepard had opened the door.

She took a moment to take in the sight before her. Geth bodies littered the floor aeound a room with computers on the right side. And at the end of the room she could see the purple form of Tali working at a terminal.

"Thank you, Shepard. If not for you, I would have never made it out of this room." letting out a sigh, she turned to them. "This whole mission has been a disaster. I wish I joind you back on Freedom's Progres, but I couldn't let anyone take my place on something so risky."

Shepard couldn't help but smirk. 'Tali. Ready to protect those close to her.'

She felt what could only be described as pride in the woman she saw as a younger sibling. "What were you researching here?"

Activating her Omni-tool, she started to explain. "Haestrom's sun is destabilizing. Back when this was a quarian colony, it was a normal star." as she spoke, her Omni-tool showed the star in question. "It shouldn't change that quickly."

"What would make it do that?" Shepard asked as the smirk went away. 'Peaple died just for that?' she thought angrily.

After a shrug she answered. "If I had to guess, I'd say it was dark energy affecting the interior of the star. The effect is similar to when stars blow off mass to enter a red giant phase, but Haestom's is far too young for this to be natural."

With her thoughts from earlier she voiced her next question. "A lot of Quarian's died here to get that data. Was it worth all the deaths?"

"I don't know Shepard. It wasn't my call." she said sadly as she shook her head slowly while hanging it a little. "The Admiralty Board believed the information here was worth sacrificing all our lives for. I have to believe that they know what's best."

"I didn't ask what some admiral thought." she retorted a little too suddenly. "I asked if you thought it was worth it?"

"A lot of people died here." Tali answered with an aggressive tone showing Shepard that the little quarian on her pilgrimage she had met had grown a little. It saddened her a little to see how she had changed. Became less innocent. "Some of them were my friends. All of them were good at their jobs. That damn data better be worth it. The price was too high."

"I'm glad you are alright, Tali." Shepard said as she took a step forward as a gentle smile showed itself. "After you send that data, I could use another familiar face on the Normandy."

"I promised I would see this mission through. I did. I can leave with you and send the data to the Fleet. And if the admirals have a problem with it, they could go to hell." she lowered her Omni-tool and sad the next few words that got rid of Shepard's smile. "I just watched the rest of my team die."

"Maybe not the whole rest of your team ma'am." Reeger corrected as he finally showed himself, limping into the room.

"Reeger! You made it!" Tali announced happily. And if Shepard didn't know any better, she would have sworn she heard a little eagerness in her words.

'Grown up indeed.' she thought with a raised eyebrow.

"You're old captain's as good as you said. Damn colossus never stood a chance."

"I could give you a ride back to the Fleet if you need it." Shepard offered as the smile came back thanks to what she had been thinking.

"The geth didn't damage our ship." he declined. "Long as we get out of here before reinforcements show up, we'll be fine."

"Actually I won't be going with you." Tali stated, sounding a little saddened by what she was saying. "I'm joining Commander Shepard."

"All pass the data to the Admiralty Board and let them know what happened." Reeger said before looking at Shepard. "She's all yours now, Shepard. Keep her safe."

"I will." she promised as she shook his hand. "Have a safe trip. Kela se'lai."

The trip back to the shuttle was quiet, but Shepard had on a smile the whole trip. It wasn't until the shuttle was taking off that Tali noticed.

"What?" she asked, sounding a little confused.

Her words made Shepard's smile turn into a large grin as she said her next words. "So… Reeger huh?"

The three words made the quarian sitting across from her attempt to rub her temples through her mask, and then looked as if she was silently punishing herself for trying. "Oh Keelah…"

Hope you liked the chapter. Sorry Plague was not in a lot of scenes this time. But you have to admit he took a beating a few chapters back. Anyway. How about a scavenger hunt? Thought I would mix things up a little bit. You don't have to do this if you don't want to.

I am still looking for Self Insert stories. I will give you two categories. First to find such in either category wins.

OK the categories will be...

First category. Cartoons. And the show will be Teen Titans. (Why I do not know really. I used to watch the show when I was younger.)

Next category. Games. And the game will be Fallout.

Good luck and see you all next time.


	17. Chapter 17 Plague Meets People

Wow I got a lot of hate in that last chapter. Let me start this by saying Plague did not create an AI. If you guys would have paid attention in the chapter you would have saw that I made it clear that Plague had collected a number of things. I left a hint about who the AI was but I don't think anyone noticed it. Ok now let's continue.

The Wildcard

Chapter 17

"Cerberus saw footage of you in action, Tali'Zorah." Jacob started as the three walked into the meeting. Shepard could tell Tali highly despised being on a Cerberus ship. Hell, she felt the same way since this whole thing started. The quarian looked at him as he spoke. Body language telling her that her friend wanted to do anything but be in the same room as the operative, along with everyone she met on the ship who she was unfamiliar with. "We're looking forward to having you on the team. Your engineering expertise will really benefit the mission." he finished on the other side of the conference room.

"I don't know who you are, but Cerberus threatened the security of the Migrant Fleet." Tali said back sounding as if talking to the Cerberus member put a bad taste in her mouth. "Don't make nice." she warned as she walked to stand to Shepard's right.

She heard about the attack on the fleet the last time she saw Tali. People died. May not have been many lives in the eyes of any other race, but you had to take into account the quarians small numbers. In addition, severely damaging any ship in the Migrant Fleet could have jeopardized the safety of the whole population. One well timed attack and the right numbers and the quarian race would be wiped out of existence. She did not know all of the details, but she hated Cerberus even more just for the things she did know.

Even so… she knew when to put her anger aside.

"I'm the one in charge no matter who paid for the ship, Tali. I hate it as much as you do, but we need some cooperation to deal with the Reapers."

The tone used against her made her mentally cringe. "I assumed that you were undercover, Shepard." she started as she started to walk to her. "Maybe even planning to blow Cerberus up." she stopped right in front of Shepard, allowing her the ability to barely make out the orbs that formed her eyes through her mask. "If that's the case. I'll lone you a grenade. Otherwise, I'm here for you. Not for them"

She could not help but let out a sigh as she noticed Tali was not angry with her. She did not want what happened with Ash to happen again. "Thanks, Tali." an almost invisible smirk formed on her lips as she thought of something that could cheer her friend up. At least make her a little more at ease. "I'm assuming you want to be where you can see how the ship ticks?"

"I'll get Tali'Zorah the necessary security clearance to access our systems." Jacob announced. It looked like a way for him to try building a bridge between them.

Sadly, the bridge came falling down.

"Please do. I can't be part of your team if I don't know how the ship works." she countered, sounding like the man had just insulted her skills. She started to walk out of the room, but stopped right next to her old, and in this case, new Commander. "Remember, Shepard, these people thought enslaving Thorian creepers and rachni was a good idea." she warned as she started walking again. "I'll be in engineering."

'Well... That could have been worse.' she thought to herself.

Almost as if she had angered someone's religious deity, Jacob had to be his "Helpful" self. "Don't forget to introduce yourself to EDI, the ship's new artificial intelligence."

'Shit.' Shepard wanted to voice as she saw the quarian stop dead in her tracks in the doorway. She wished her biotics worked so she could have put Mr. Taylor in a stasis field if she had been able to see it coming. She wanted to tell Tali gently. Instead, here comes Jacob with the blunt force of a krogan in a blood rage.

She felt some guilt as the quarian woman looked over her shoulder to Jacob, and then took a quick glance to Shepard.

The few second long silence felt like years to her under her friends disapproving gaze.

Finally, she looked forward and walked on as the doors closed behind her. She wanted to sit down for a few seconds before going to have her amp looked at, but she was let down by the lack of seats.

Thirty minutes later.

"Ow!"

"Stop moving around and it won't hurt." Chakwas scolded as she made the next incision with her scalpel.

Shepard was laying on one of the med bay's beds face down with her arms and legs restrained so her implant could be replaced. Doing so was similar to a brain surgery, but with smaller risks. Therefore, she had to be awake during the procedure to be safe.

She was already out of her armor and had taken a much needed hot shower before coming down to the Crew Deck. She now wore her brown civvies.

"You hold still while I cut open the back of YOU'ER head!" she almost yelled.

"I would have given you the painkillers, but you wanted to remain lucid later." she reminded, sounding annoyed as she removed the amp at the base of her skull.

"Whatever happened to the nice amps that went in the back of your neck, or shoulder blade?" she mumbled as she felt her biotic strength nosedive.

"The normal amps like the L2 through 4 still work that way, and L3s and L4s are still commonly used." the doctor explained as Shepard felt something being inserted under her skin. "The L5 you use is far more advanced."

"Wait." Shepard jumped in as she fought to hold still. "There was an L4?"

Chakwas let out a chuckle as she worked. "A lot of things happened in the time you were away, Shepard."

"Tell me about it." she grumbled in reply as her mood went south.

"I'm sorry, Shepard." Chakwas apologized as she hesitated for a second once she realized what she had said.

"It's fine Helen." she said before the conversation went any farther. "I know what you meant to say. Already have Kelly trying to get me to "Open Up" in her random sessions. I am actually considering just saying I had daddy issues just for the hell of it."

Finally, she felt the cool sensation of megi-gel being applied to the opening just under where her hair began.

"Finished." she announced to her patient and smiled when she bolted out of the bad to stand once the final restraint was removed.

Following what she had learned at the academy, Shepad slowly sent biotic power into the amp and slowly increased the flow until she felt the focused power going through her whole body until she saw the telltale blue glow. Showing a smile, she stopped feeding the amp power, making the glow vanish.

"Thanks, Chakwas." she thanked as she moved her head a little to get the stiffness out.

"I would say anytime, but Ms Lawson made it clear that we only have a few more spare L5 amps." she explained as she took off her gloves and washed her hands. "Let me just say, she was not pleased."

"To be expected I guess." Shepard agreed as she started to leave the room. "I'll come back if there are any problems."

Tali'Zorah POV

'What is Shepard thinking?' she thought to herself as she walked around engineering trying to familiarize her surroundings. 'An AI!'

Sure she trusted Shepard, but this was pushing it. Shepard knew the dangers in having an AI around. They had fought the geth together, had seen the bodies.

She was expecting another surprise from her friend like her sisterly hugs, but being asked to live on a ship with an AI in the systems? It sounded insane.

And working with Cerberus was extremely risky. Every time she turned around, she was expecting to be ambushed by any xenophobes within the ship's crew and being interrogated on ways for them to get into the Flotilla.

Sure, she knew how to take care of herself, and would die rather than threaten the Fleet. What got her was the sense of paranoia she had quickly developed.

"There's a new face… so to speak." a man's voice announced as she opened a door. "Welcome."

She thought someone had walked up to her, but it was she who walked upon the owner of the voice. "Sorry. Must have gone the wrong…" she stopped when she saw what was within the room.

The man was, to be expected, human. He was laying on his back on a cot on the other side of the room, wearing a blue jumpsuit with one leg over the other, messing with his Omni-tool.

She was not really looking at him. What had received her undivided attention were the walls covered in weaponry. The weapons looked ancient. She had seen a few holos of old human weapons before, but these looked still functional. And what she looked at next was, what had to be, mechs lined along the far wall.

Surprisingly she saw a helmet that she at first thought was a quarian mask. That triggered something she wanted to remember, but Keelah help her, she just could not find out what it was. A rumor she had heard back in the Migrant Fleet before she left for Haestrom?

"Keelah…" she managed to get out before she collected herself. "… I'm sorry to intrude like this."

"Don't be." the man replied as he motioned to sit on the bunk. "I hardly get any visitors." he then got up and walked to her and held out his hand. "101."

"One hundred and one what?" she asked as she just looked at the hand, not wanting to interact with the member of Cerberus.

She understood the human hand gesture, but why was he telling her numbers? Did he want something from her?

The first part of his features she took in was the collection of scars on the man's forehead. They were a little hard to see since the almost white tissue was well camouflaged against his pale skin. His hair was short and almost looked like it was white, but she had a feeling he was not that old by both quarian and human standards. He had no facial hair, but she did not really see the purpose of hair on a human's face anyway. The last thing she saw was his eyes. They were a light blue and seemed to be empty as they looked at her. She felt like she was going to be pulled in for a second. It was a slightly eerie feeling, but she had to admit he still looked attractive in a way.

He seemed to not react to her not returning the gesture and faced the other way so she could see the human numbers on his back he was pointing at over his shoulder as he looked at her at the corner of his eye.

"Not one hundred and one. 1-O-1." he corrected as he turned to face her again, not sounding the least bit annoyed. "You can call me Plague if you'd like."

He then left her at the doorway so he could lean against the wall next to the door. "Please. Do come in."

Her mind told her to turn away and leave this strange man, but her curiosity made her want to look at the machines along the wall. So she accepted his invitation and stood in the center of the room as she looked around.

"Not much, but its home… for now." he corrected himself as he moved one of the small crates in the room near her. "Have a seat."

Not seeing if she accepted his hospitality, he turned away from her so that he could sit at the workbench next to the cot.

Tali considered sitting, but she still did not know if this man was in any way a threat.

"I am to assume you are the quarian the Boss picked up?" he asked as he started organizing some tools on the bench with care.

"Boss?" she asked as she looked at the mechs.

"Shepard." he answered as she heard him organizing.

"Oh… yes." she confirmed. "I am Tali'Zorah vas Neema." she introduced as she turned to him for a moment to give him a nod before going back to what had peaked her interest.

She heard a low whistle from him, and the first thing she thought of was how some bosh'tets seemed to at first make some racial remark, and then for some reason continue to talk to her about her curves. She was wrong however when she looked back at him and saw he was not looking at her, thus not acting like some pervert.

"Do all quarians have such long names?" he asked as he leaned back in his seat. "I have only met one other of your kind, and back then I just thought he was pulling my leg."

Tali raised a questioning eyebrow that went unnoticed before speaking. "Why would he want to take your legs?" her question earned her a fit of laughter that bounced around the small room. 'Did I say something funny?' she asked herself as she tilted her head while she waited for him to calm down.

"If he was hungry I don't think he has to worry about cooking the meat." he said as he rolled up his jumpsuits leg a little to reveal some old burn marks that had to have been painful to receive. Once he noticed her confused look, he cleared his throat as he showed an apologetic look. "Sorry… I thought you made a joke…" he apologized as he sat straight in his seat. "I meant to say, I thought he was using a fake name to pull a small prank."

"Oh…" she said for the second time since she had entered the room. "…The first two names are our first name, and our family name. The last is the name of the ship we live on in the Migrant Fleet."

"That makes sense… I guess." he said back as he picked up a combat knife and started tossing it from hand to hand. "Are all quarians named after a ship?"

His question left her speechless. The way he had asked the question made her think, he did not know anything about her people. Sure, there were those who did not understand most of the traditions or culture, but at least they would know the history to some degree.

"Yes they are." she answered as she looked at the man.

His next question was what made her see him in a new light. "Are any named after a home planet? I think it would be a little strange to be named after my shitty world. Hell. You're people's homeworld must look way better than the radioactive cesspool I am from."

At first, she had thought he was slowly working to get some information, or using what he said in some way to act as some kind of low blow, but at this point, she was extremely confused. His tone of voice told her he was sincere about his lack of knowledge.

Finally finding her voice after he gave her a worried look, she answered. "No… we can't go back to our homeworld." she watched as her sad words made his expression change before her eyes. "After living in a sterile environment for so long, we have to stay in these suits. It would take hundreds of years for us to acclimatize to a new world. And that's even if we are able to find a world we can start anew on."

101 was now looking at his feet with what she thought was understanding before he took up the saddened expression he had gained while she answered the question.

"I'm sorry… again." he apologized as he looked at the floor. "I honestly didn't know it was a sore subject."

"No. It is alright… I am just a little surprised you didn't already know." she said back as she started messing with her hands. "I am the one who should be sorry for thinking you were using my people's homeworld as a cruel joke." she admitted.

She saw his eyes widen in shock as he slowly got out of his seat. "Why would someone do that? As far as I could tell, you and the quarian I met before seem to be alright."

Tali was not sure how to answer his question at first until she just blurted it out. "My people built the geth." this time she saw some reaction, which told her he knew what she was talking about, but she was expecting a lot more shock from the confession.

"The machines that worked for the Reapers when the Citadel was attacked?" he asked, taking her by surprise. "From what I read, that happened two years ago. Why does everyone hate your kind from that? Sure it was a rather large attack, but it was that Spectre that caused it at the time."

What she would say next would make him hate her people. She had thought the last thing she said would, but if anything it had the opposite result. He would find out eventually. Might as well have him hear it from her instead of some xenophobic bosh'tet.

"The geth are what drove my people off of the quarian homeworld, and made us without a planet to return to." she let that sink in before continuing. "We built a synthetic race that turned on us and have been hostile towards organics for centuries."

"So what?" he asked after a short pause. She just didn't know how to reply to that, so 101 took the silence as a sign to continue. "That was a long time ago. Now, unless a quarian lives as long as an asari, you and those from your Fleet were in no way involved with what happened back then."

She was frozen. She didn't know what to do. This man still had nothing against her people after all that? His tone still sounded worried, he looked at her with no hatred of any kind once so ever. What she saw was curiosity, pity, sadness, and like before... understanding.

"Thank you…" she finally said after the shock had left her system. She could feel her eyes watering a little as she spoke again. "I… should probably get back to engineering. It was… nice talking to you, 101."

Before she could leave, she held out her hand to shake his. It seemed like a good thing to do since she didn't do so earlier.

He smiled a little as he started to shake her hand. At first she thought something was odd about the handshake, but she couldn't quite tell what it was until he pulled his hand away when the handshake ended.

Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the two robotic digits on his hand.

He followed her line of sight and held up his hand and started flexing the two metallic fingers. "Story for another time maybe?"

She couldn't do anything but nod nervously as she started walking out of the room.

"Let me know if you have any problems on the ship." he said as she heard him start messing with his tools again. There was also a bright flash behind her that seemed to come out of nowhere. "Hold the door please."

She turned back to see he had quickly put on a leather jacket she had not seen any human wear before except when she was asked to watch an old western with Shepard before she had died. He also had a medium sized box in his arms. It looked heavy to her, but 101 didn't seem to have a problem with the weight.

Doing as he asked, she placed her arm in the doorway to prevent it from closing until the man passed her. "Thank you, Ms. Zorah."

She simply nodded to him and started walking back to engineering. Before she could leave the door way though, she saw something that did not make any sense to her once so ever. She turned back to the man to see he had already gotten into the elevator.

She looked back to the room and seemed to do a second set of double takes, but her eyes insisted upon what they saw. All the weapons, machines, cases… they were all gone except for the cot, shelves, and a workbench.

Kasumi Goto POV

She was miserable. She had been for days. Kasumi had avoided the crew as much as possible fearing they would notice her changed attitude.

She knew she couldn't stay in the room forever. It was only a matter of time until Shepard would hear about her not showing up to eat. To avoid people, she cloaked whenever she left her room leaving no one the wiser.

Right now she was sitting in her favorite spot on the couch trying to read a romance novel, but no matter what she read it would always mention or at least hint to some kind of betrayal.

She set the book down on top of her growing pile of failed reading attempts and got up to walk to her bar.

Kasumi was not a heavy drinker. She would only drink a glass or two of the alcoholic beverage of her choice and not any more. She hated getting drunk and was more entertained watching others act like idiots.

She looked at the small glass of green liquid in her hand.

"Ms. Goto. There is a package for you in front of your door." EDI informed before Kasumi could even think of tilting the glass that was at her lips.

"What is it?" she asked as she put the glass down and got off her stool.

She was not expecting to receive anything. Did Shepard think she was starving herself in her room and had someone deliver her meals? The thief hoped not. Starvation was the least of her worries. At any time she could cloak and swipe something from Gardner's fridge. It was not that hard, even after the man had put a lock on it to keep Grunt out… not that it worked anyway.

"I was informed not to give away any information about the subject." the AI answered.

The door opened and emotions flooded her as she looked upon the crate she had left within Plague's room. For a few seconds she stood there and looked at the box with tearing eyes.

'He didn't want his duster back?' she asked herself. 'Did he even open it?'

She had spent days restoring that duster. The damaged leather, replacing the patchwork, fixing the holes in the pockets. And that was just the beginning. Part of her job as a thief was maintaining what she stole until she could find a buyer. Never had she seen someone throw her hard work back into her face as if it was pure garbage.

With trembling hands, she reached down and picked up the box. At first she thought she was going to just start sobbing, but once she noticed the crate was a little heavier then when she left it her despair and sadness was replaced by her curiosity. Her inner thief wanted to desperately know what was inside.

She took it over to her spot on the couch and hesitantly pushed open on the holographic display. With a hiss it opened to show the duster no longer resided within. What she did see confused her a little.

She reached in and pulled out an almost all black outfit with a white stripe going down each limb. A smile graced her lips as she realized Plague had made the outfit himself.

It was a cat-suit that looked similar to what she was wearing. The deference's were small lightly blue tinted arm and shin guards along with a form fitting breastplate.

She felt her cheeks get warm as she noticed the breastplate was vary… accurate with her measurements.

There was a hood on it as well and looked like it could cover her head well. On the waist were a number of pouches with self-sealing flaps to keep what she would put in from falling out. In one pouch she found some soft gloves made from the same fabric as the whole suit.

Then she pulled out a pair of matching black boots.

She put the boots down next to the outfit and noticed there was something else in the box.

It was a folded piece of paper like the ones she had left for Plague. She was expecting a poem like she had written. Why she was expecting that she did not know, but what it said had an effect on her. Kasumi was not expecting it to have only one word written on it. None the less, that single word made her do as it asked. A five letter word that did far more for her then any poem she could have thought of.

Smile.

Plague POV

"Kasumi Goto is now reading the note." EDI informed the man in the elevator. "Will you need any more assistance, Wildcard?"

"No EDI." Plague answered as he put his hands in his duster's pockets. "Thanks for the assist."

"Logging you out." EDI said before the elevator went quiet.

The doors opened and Plague stepped onto the CIC. He usually avoided the deck. So much activity. Everyone had something to do.

"Hello Mr. 101" a cheerful redhead said as he walked in the direction of the tech lab.

Plague let out a silent groan when he realized who it was. Ever since he first got on the ship, Kelly had been wanting to speak with him so she could find out how "Stable" he was. She was another reason why he avoided the deck.

"What… can I do for you?" he asked with a fake sense of enthusiasm. He wanted get out of there. The longer he looked at the yeoman's bubbly attitude the more he felt uncomfortable. Involuntarily a smile showed itself. 'This woman is infectious.'

"I was hoping you had some free time so I could ask you a few questions?" she explained as she walked up to him with her data pad.

"I would love to but…" he trailed off as he fought to find a reasonable excuse. Finally when he saw a door open in the distance he saw his salvation. "Jacob!" he called as he intercepted the man on the way to the elevator.

"Plague?" the man asked quizzically as he gave him a confused look when Plague's arm was slung over his shoulder like an old war buddy.

"I would love to Ms. Chambers, but sadly I already have plans to help Jacob with…" he made eye contact that if anyone else noticed they would have thought it looked pleading. "… you know… that THING?"

The man seemed to slowly grasp what was going on and looked as if he remembered something. "Oh man I almost forgot." he acknowledged as he lightly scratched the back of his head. "Sorry Kelly, but I asked Plague earlier to help me down on deck five."

"That so?" the woman asked as her bright smile fell a little. "Well I don't want to keep you. Maybe we could set up a meeting, 101. When will you be unoccupied?"

'Shit!' he shouted in his head as his brain started scrambling for something to say. "I have to take a rain check. I'll tell the AI when I am free. Bye."

Before she could say anything back, Plague guided his savior into the elevator.

The facade was dropped once the door closed. "Oh thank God." Plague groaned as he retracted his arm from Jacob. "That woman's been trying to get me to look at inkblots since I got on this ship." he explained as he rubbed his temples.

Jacob gave him an amused look as he folded his arms. "She's not that bad is she?" he asked as he watched the man next to him. "Not like she would put you in a padded room or something?"

"I'm not saying she is not a good person." he started as he leaned against the elevators interior. "It's just odd how she's so cheery. Like she carries around some kind of happy pill she has to take every two seconds. No one is that happy."

The explanation made the second man start laughing as he shook his head a little.

"You know she's going to get you at some point right?" he asked.

"Maybe if there was a different reason for her to be hunting me down, like say she just wanted to grab a few drinks and have a good time…" Jacob gave him a slightly disapproving look that made Plague straighten himself out a little. "What? I'm joking. Not like I am going to drop something and pull my pants down after I ask her to pick it up. I'm a gentlemen."

"Right…" Jacob mouthed as he rolled his eyes.

Taylor Shepard POV

"Shepard." Tali greeted when she noticed the human was walking up to her. "What can I do for you?"

Shepard smiled a little when she noticed Tali's tone was a little better than earlier.

"How's the ship treating you Tali?" she asked as she crossed her arms. "Any trouble?"

"Please, Shepard." Tali started as she put a hand on her hip. "I'm a quarian. Give me a chunk of scrap metal…" (At this point Shepard had sadly drifted off as she thought of other things she would rather be talking about.) "…have it making precision jumps."

"L.. let's hope we don't need to do that at some point." Shepard said as she got back into the conversation. 'Have to admit. That would be one hell of a good diversion.'

Plague POV

"Quizzically dismayed: I do not understand." an elcor voice spoke from Plague's Omni tool while he sat against a wall near where Jacob was taking care of some repairs to the shuttle in the cargo hold.

In a desperate attempt to kill time, Plague had found some interesting things on his Omni tool. One of which was an alien soap opera.

On the holographic display a purple skinned asari entered the cameras view in a red dress and looked as if she had far too many eye drops.

"Please understand that I cannot be with you any longer! For my mind has graced another's!" the asari confessed a little too dramatically.

The whole time, Plague was desperately trying to contain himself.

"Shocked realization and disbelief: How can you do this to me?" the elcor… yelled? "I thought we had something special."

The asari took a step forward as if she was about to comfort the larger being, only then to spin around to face the opposite direction with an arm going back as if to hold the elcor at bay while the other arm went to her head.

"I cannot dream, nor comprehend the misery I have inflicted upon you, my former bondmate!" she recited.

"Barely contained anguish: Who is it? Who has smitten my violet flower? Who has taken you from me?" It was at this point a second asari entered the room in a green dress and ran over to the first asari and threw her arms around her. "Utter shock: You left me for this asari?"

The second asari looked to the camera and it showed that both of them were almost identical.

"No I have not my beloved!" the second asari corrected as the two asari started wrestling. "The wool has been cast over your eyes by Netosha! My evil twin sister!"

"HA!" Plague shouted, almost making Jacob jump from the surprise loud noise. "I KNEW IT!" he yelled followed by a fit of laughter.

Jacob was about to make an annoyed comment, but was silenced when Plague turned up the volume.

Before the elcor could give his two cents, a second elcor entered the room, making the three other occupants gasp in shock… Well… two of them. The elcor just said gasp.

"Shock and fear laced with confusion: Gasp. Salivon. What are you doing her, my evil twin brother?"

To answer any question, the suit Plague made for Kasumi was the Stealth Suit Mk ll. it just has been altered to be a little more formfitting and has a hood and differently shaped breast plate. I hope you all liked the chapter.

The next chapter is not hard to guess. Jacob's mission.


	18. Chapter 18 Close To Home

**God the hell i went through to get this chapter up. Was so much shit going on that it wasn't even funny. If you guys want a full explination, then read the top of my one shot (Have You Got A Minute?) and lol if you like it. Ok I think it is time for us to move on. Guys Here is Chapter 18!**

* * *

><p><strong>The Wildcard <strong>

**Chapter 18**

"You're not going to get sick again, are you?" Shepard asked, sounding amused while at the same time being wary. Sitting across from her in the shuttle was Plague looking nauseas.

Watching his face develop an ill appearance, made Shepard smile a little. She had seen such things before. Man and women who had been in space for long periods of time were common in the Alliance. She herself had gone through it as well. And the small smirk on Jacobs face showed he was most likely thinking the same thing she was, having served.

The operative was dealing with the situation well, but she could practically feel the mixed emotions swimming around him. None of them knew what they would find on 2175 Aeia. Shepard hoped that whatever they find, either good or bad, would help the man. If she found out there was a chance that her own father was still alive, she would search for him without a second thought. Family was family, no matter the circumstances.

When the man said he had already buried the issue years ago, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. When her family was killed she acted like a zombie for well ever two years. She barely spoke. She hardly ate. Every night was filled with nightmares of that day. The cold kitchen floor. Her mother's corpse right next to her, while she held her dead baby brother in her arms.

She would jump when she heard a sudden noise, expecting it to be a slaver coming back for her. She saw her brother whenever she saw a child. Her mother when she saw herself in a mirror. And she saw her father whenever she saw someone with the same red hair.

It was small things like that making her go back into her shell. Every once in a while the scar on her arm where she was stabbed during the bombings with a knife would itch a little. She knew the scar was gone, but she still felt it like a phantom limb. No matter how many times she was rebuilt, she had a feeling it wouldn't change.

"Not my fault I have to… eat before a mission." Plague wheezed his defense. "When we land… watch were you step…" he warned while he seemed to go even paler then he already appeared at the thought.

The warning made Shepard snicker a little. It was a small improvement to the mood in the space.

"Just make sure you are not in here when you puke you're guts out." the Cerberus pilot in the front section of the shuttle shouted. "Took me for ever to get the smell out, no matter how many times I decontaminated the thing."

The man had been complaining since Plague had sat down.

"I said I was sorry." Plague shot back without turning his head. "We are going into a jungle right?" he asked Shepard.

When she nodded, he was surrounded by the light produced by his pip-boy. By now the flashes didn't faze Shepard much. When the light went away, her face was reflected back at her by a familiar scratched visor. He was wearing his stealth suit that looked like it had been repaired since Horizon. She could see where the material around his neck was a slightly different tint then the rest of the suit.

"Is that what you needed those materials for? " she asked as she saw that everywhere he had been burned was repaired as well.

"One amongst many." he answered as he lifted a dark revolver with a long barrel in his right hand. "Needed both ammunition and repairs." he explained as he started spinning the gun like a cowboy before holstering it.

How his guns worked against kinetic barriers confused her. Sure his weapons fired larger rounds, but it still would have done nothing to an enemies shields. As far as she could tell, Plague knew practically nothing about how the mass accelerated rounds were fired from the guns everyone else used. Sure the rounds were smaller, but they packed more of a punch. She was no gun expert, but it didn't take one to see that something was wrong with the picture.

She had asked both Garrus and Jacob how such a thing could be possible. They were just as confused as she was.

Back to her past train of thought, she noticed how Plague's behavior had changed. The Plague she had met on Omega was acting a little more depressed since he was briefed on the details of the mission. They were to go to the source of the delayed distress beacon and find out what happened to the crew, along with Jacob's father.

'Maybe this mission opened old wounds.' she said to herself.

The engines suddenly became a little quieter. That told her they were slowing down and preparing to land.

They were to land near the wrecked ship and then proceed on foot. The other two men sensed this as well and drew their respective weapons. Shepard held her Phalanx pistol in her hands. They had received some new weaponry the last time the Normandy refueled. Jacob was holding a rifle in his arms, and she could tell his grip was a little tighter then usual. Plague on the other hand looked calm as he drew his pistol while his left hand thumbed the handle of the machete hanging on his waist. At least he looked calm. It was hard to tell with that helmet of his.

Garrus told her that Plague explained how he learned to use a firearm. Going from a toy, to self teaching how to use, that which the man used today. She didn't fully believe him when he told her a little bit about his origins, but it was times like these that made her think. 'What kind of world would transform someone like Plague that dramatically?'

When he killed he reminded her of Jack. Both of them loved to kill. They both seemed to get a thrill out of the violence. Sure Plague was a little more disciplined and acted nicer to others, but he always looked as if he was expecting something. Another annoyance, argument, threat, confrontation. It was hard to notice, but the man distrusted everyone to the point that he expected everyone to stick a knife in his back.

Even then Plague acted kind and trusting. All a mask.

She let out a quiet sigh once she realized this. Was that trust he gave her when he first got on the ship the truth or a lie he instinctually said to lower her own defenses? Did he expect her to attack him as well at some point? Did he think of everyone that way? Even Kasumi, the one he seemed to become friends with? The more she thought about it, the more she heard Garrus's warning in the back of her mind.

She looked down at her armored hand as those thoughts bounced around. This was the first time she will use Plague's Tesla Armor in a mission. She had managed to convince Plague she was ready to use it in a fight, although she still hadn't tested how her biotics would react, so they made a compromise. She would use her amp for her biotics and only use the armors muscle enhancements. The teals coils on her shoulders were inactive at the moment. The helmet was hanging on the coil on her right shoulder. She hated helmets, but at least it looked better then her old one. If she needed it, she was able to quickly put it on.

It was then that she realized something. If Plague didn't trust her, then why did he let her use his armor? The man was a mystery sometimes.

When the shuttle doors opened, they were bathed in sunlight. It took her eyes a second to adapt to the new source of light. It was not as bad as the last planet she was on though. At least the sun was not frying her shields, and threatening to cook her alive.

The first thing Shepard saw as she stepped out was the sand under her feet. Looking around she saw they had landed on a rocky beach. The vegetation looked similar to green grass and tropical palm trees along with other plants you would see on an island back on Earth. Not that she had ever been on Earth before. She had only seen pictures of the homeworld of her species. Once she recovered from her family's death, at least she thought she recovered, she would always request to be moved to posts near spaceports, or act as a member of the crew on various Alliance ships. She never truly felt comfortable on a planet similar to home, and what happened on Akuze didn't really improve things much.

"_Activating environmental countermeasures." _an extremely familiar female voice announced before she felt the suit's feet adjusting automatically to compinsate for the sand that gave way under her armor's weight. The voice warmed her heart and brought a small smile to her face. _"Countermeasures engaged. Going to surveillance mode." _

When Shepard gave Plague a voice sample she had asked EDI to find over the extranet he was looked as if he was going to ask why she picked such an interesting vocal sample, but then just shrugged and recorded the sample on his pip-boy.

It wasn't that hard to find her voice. Over the one hundred and six years of the asari's life she had sent documentaries and audio notes over the extranet about her prothean archeological findings.

For a moment she wanted to hug Plague for managing to integrate the voice into the power armor. It was all she really had of Liara at the moment. Although she missed the original a little more. How she would become shy when talking to others, how she would say one thing and then realize what she said could have a double meaning or a hidden innuendo, thus making her start to backpedal. She was sweet, but she looked even better when turning a slightly purple shade while blushing as the asari tried to clear up a misunderstanding. This machine was a little different though. It had no emotion when speaking.

That did not mean she couldn't keep the original samples and listen to her love. Sure she had no idea what she was saying sometimes do to her not being a fellow prothean expert. But she still listened to it every night for the past six days.

She couldn't help but notice her nightmares had dwindled down to once every three nights.

The ocean was to her right while a near ten foot high cliff face was to her right. In the far distance she could see the only man made structure on the planet, being the large cruiser on the shore like a large metallic beached whale.

"I have run a scan of the ship." EDI announced as Shepard looked over to Plague, who jumped out of the Kodiak after Jacob. The helmeted man was, at the moment, looking down at his foot that was digging into the sand thanks to his heavier weight with what she guessed was curiosity. Clearly the terrain would end up being a disadvantage. "I detect no life signs, but there may be useful technology or information still inside."

"If they aren't on the ship, then they must be in the surrounding jungle." Plague voiced as he looked over to Jacob. "There's a chance."

"Thanks." the man sad back with a straight face.

"Before we move up, Plague." he looked to her as she continued. "You're sinking. Put some of you're stuff on the Kodiak."

"What?"

Shepard let out a sigh as she shook her head a little. "You're too heavy. The sand will slow you down. I'm not saying for you to put power armor on there or anything. Just get rid of something else of it."

She was expecting him to argue, but after a looked at his feet again he must have agreed. He turned back to the open doors of the shuttle and re atomized some of his melee weapons. A sludge hammer, a few more machetes, a wooden baseball bat, and a golf club of all things. Next was one of his ammo cases. He then placed his minigun next to it along with a rocket launcher.

She didn't expect him to put all of those away. And imagine the look on her face when three miniature warheads were added as well.

"EDI. I'm sending the Kodiak back with some extra weaponry. They are to be delivered straight to Plague's room." she ordered as she started walking and then paused to look back at the last added items. "Delicately…"

**Plague POV**

'Life is a beach.' Plague said to himself.

He had never actually walked on one. Now he understood the joke written on an old mug he had found inside of an office building a few years back. Sure he only saw it momentarily before he broke it in half on the edge of a desk so that he could drive a jagged fragment into a raider's face, but that didn't mean he didn't commit it to memory.

The small joke was brushed quickly to the side when he remembered why they were all there. There was a chance that Jacob's father was still alive.

Plague didn't know what to think of the situation. On the surface he was happy for him, but what he thought deep down was another story. Part of him envied the man. And another part thought the whole situation was unfair.

Plague had gone through hell to find his father, and once he did, his father was ripped away from him as if it was a cruel joke. 101 will never get a second chance. His father was gone, simple as that. He would never see him again. He would never here one of his lectures, never again participate as his medical assistant in the infirmary of vault 101, never get the chance to apologize for the arguments they had once he found him. He will never get anyone back. He will never see the allies he made over the years. And he will never hold Sarah in his arms again.

To see someone else be given back a loved one who was thought to be long deceased felt like an insult against him.

"Plague?" Shepard called making him realize he had drifted off into space thanks to his thoughts.

Apparently he had missed a part of the conversation. "Yes, Boss?"

"Nothing." she said back. "You were falling behind. Are you alright."

"I'm good." he lied as he picked up the pace. Thankfully she didn't notice and lead on.

They were now closer to the ship. It appeared highly damage. He could make out some materials and salvage on the shore.

"Looks like it was stripped after the crash." Jacob voiced Plague's thoughts. "They'd have tried to get a beacon up as soon as possible."

If what Plague heard was accurate, the ship vanished years ago. Something was wrong. Maybe some trouble with the wildlife? Water… Mirel…?

He mentally slapped himself at the thought.

'That was dumb.' he scolded.

Although, all he knew, maybe there was an alien species out there that resembled the mutated crustaceans back home… Not that he wanted to meet them. More like drop a nuke from orbit and see what happens. Think of it as a form of late revenge.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a hologram near the salvage. The avatar looked like a somewhat orange/pink human male with a bald head and was flickering on and off. A flickering flashlight low on batteries came to Plague's mind, leaving him to guess the environment was starting to have a negative effect on the projector.

"_Repeat. Toxicology alert." _it warned as they approached. "_Danger of rapid neural decay_._" _

"That is… rather unsettling." Plague mentioned as his vision wandered in the direction of the small manmade bridge from the shore, to an opening of the large ship in the water.

As he watched Shepard walk up to the hologram it was talking about how the plant life was to blame for the previously mentioned neural decay.

'Well… looks like I'm not picking any flowers anytime soon.' he thought to himself.

"From the look of it beacon's been here a while." she observed as she walked next the projection. "Why would they wait years to signal?"

To her words, the projection looked at her as if just noticing she was there and answered. _"Pause in beacon protocol, eight years, 237 days, seven hours." _Plague held himself from letting out a whistle at the amount of time between when the ship crashed, and them finding it. _"Pause is recorded as: Record Deleted by acting Caption, Ronald Taylor."_

"That's not right…" Jacob said. "My father was first officer."

"_Ronald Taylor was promoted under emergency command protocols." _the VI answered as it took what Jacob said as a question._ "Other flagged issues: Unsafe deceleration. Local food and neural decay. Beacon activation protocols." _

"Unsafe deceleration? Bit of an understatement." Plague mumbled quietly and was a little surprised when the hologram attempted to see where the statement had originated from.

"_Error… Error…"_it started to say as the projection flickered a little more.

"Damnit!" Jacob cursed as he brought up his Omni-tool and stabilized the machine after giving Plague a death glare.

"Hey. How was I supposed to know it would do that?" he defended as he took a few more steps back so the malfunction wouldn't be repeated.

Once the hologram came back up it spoke. _"Encountering a visual malfunction. Please call technological support at your next convenience."_

"What's the damage?" Shepard asked as she let the man work.

"I think I got it." he answered followed by him giving Plague another glare. "Just stay over there."

"Fine." the vault dweller shot back. "I didn't want to talk to the machine anyway."

He didn't know why he was giving Jacob such a hard time. Not that he knew the machine would try to look at him. The faster the situation was dealt with the better.

"It's not your fault, 101." Shepard told him as she activated her Omni-tool to try and help. "While we work on this, use that bridge and try to find out what happened."

"Sure, Boss." he answered as he turned on his heel after giving her a mock salute with the barrel of his revolver taking the place of his hand. Better then the glares being shot at him by the second male of the group.

**Shepard POV**

"It should work now." Jacob reported as they both took a few steps back.

As the projection materialized, Jacob kept his Omni-tool at the ready just in case.

Letting out a sigh, Shepard walked up to the VI. "Where are the survivors?"

The projection was a little shaky, but it managed to face her before answering. _"The location of the remaining crew of the Hugo Gernsback is unknown. This beacon has been unattended for several maintenance cycles."_

'Of course it wasn't going to be that easy.' Shepard said to herself before she remembered what the VI said earlier. "What was that about neural decay?" If the survivors were still alive, they could be in bad shape.

"_Impairment of mental function due to chemical imbalance begins seven days of ingesting local flora, regardless of decontamination or preparation." _the VI explained. Shepard was not a scientist, but she knew none of that sounded good. _"Impact on higher cognitive abilities and long-term memory is cumulative, but significant within a standard month. It is not known if neural decay is permanent. Data collection is not completed."_

"Why wasn't the beacon activated earlier if the survivors knew about the neural decay?" the Spectre asked in thought.

The VI took what she said as a question and started to answer._ "This emergency beacon became functional after 358 days, 12 hours, following the unscheduled sub orbital decent of the Hugo Gernsback." _

'What?' she asked mentally in shock. "That can't be right." she voiced as she looked over to Jacob who looked just as surprised as she did.

"_Activation was triggered remotely after eight years, 237 days, seven hours, on the authority of acting captain Ronald Taylor." _

She heard enough. "Come on, let's get going."

"My father had a working beacon but didn't signal for almost nine years. Maybe… the neural decay affected him." Jacob thought out loud.

"That makes the most sense." Shepard agreed as they started walking towards the man made bridge. "Maybe Plague found something. But first…" she started as she noticed a terminal that looked like it was still functional next to the bridge. "…lets see if this says anything."

She holstered her Phalanx pistol and let out a sigh of relief when the holographic display appeared when she placed a hand over it. She was surprised it still worked.

There were a few files. Most being maintenance reports that were recorded before the crash. The only recent files since then were some diagnostics for the beacon when they were trying to get it working and one audio recording.

"I might have something." she reported to Jacob who was watching her back.

When she activated it she could instantly tell some of the data was corrupted. But the recording still played.

"…_along with this anymore." _began a man's voice. Although parts of what he was saying were full of static. _"We've done horrible things to the crew. The conditions they're in, they don't understand what we're doing to them. Distract them for two seconds and they forget what you did before the bruises show. It's got to stop. I'm talking to the others as soon as-"_

Static was the only noise able to be heard for the next five seconds before it went dead, leaving the two humans in silence, both not liking what they heard.

"My, God." Shepard managed to say as she continued to look at where the hologram was.

The man was ok in the recording and that left her to believe there were others as well. Most likely lived off of the ship's food stores. There couldn't have been enough food on the ship for the whole crew to survive. But why was he talking about things happening to the crew? The way he spoke made it sound like those with neural decay were being treated poorly.

She looked up to Jacob who had the same expression on his face.

Before a word could be said between them, a loud crash was heard on the ship, making them both ready their weapons and run across the bridge.

When they got on the ship, Shepard expected some kind of hostile attacking Plague, or maybe EDI's scans had missed a survivor. What she didn't expect to see was a smashed terminal spraying sparks with an enraged Plague, now in his heavy set, pacing back and forth.

By the way he flexed his right hand Shepard guessed he had punched through it.

"What are you doing?" she almost shouted as she walked up to the terminal to see if anything could be salvaged with her Omni-tool.

"I am going to fucking kill them!" Plague shouted as if he hadn't heard the question, before suddenly punching the nearest wall.

Jacob was keeping his distance, but looked furious as he pointed a finger at 101.

"That terminal could have told us where to find the survivors!" he yelled.

101 waved him off before leaning against a wall and slammed his fist into his other hand.

"Both of you calm down." Shepard ordered as she turned away from the piece of scrap. Plague wasn't the type to do something without a reason, no matter how unorthodox his actions were sometimes. "Plague. What happened?"

"The things they did to these people…?" he yelled at her before lowering his voice and trying to calm himself. "Every terminal I have looked at had a recording. Each one was about people trying to remember who they were, the names of those they loved. And then I listen to…" he trailed of as he waved to the terminal he damaged before punching the wall next to him again. "They couldn't remember what the hell was done to them by those who were still healthy. One man documented how he repeatedly raped a woman!" he shouted, making Shepard's eyes widen in shock before her face showed a mix of anger and disgust. What she heard on the first recording made sense now. "Every time the woman looked at the man she didn't remember what he had done to her. She smiled at the piece of filth and saw no reason to fear him until he assaulted her every time." he switched back to his stealth set and had walked up to her when the light filled the space. He was now standing before Shepard, and when his visor opened she saw him gritting his teeth as his eyes narrowed.

"I would say "Maybe this was an isolated incident" if we hadn't heard a recording of a man talking about those with the decay being mistreated." she said back with venom in her voice. "At least we know there were people who were trying, and maybe still are trying, to do the right thing here." he seemed to focus on every word, but she didn't know if he was calming down or not. "The more time we spend standing here, the more time that this may be still going on."

There was a moment of silence before it was broken by the sound of Plague's visor closing and then leaning in a little, making her angered glare be reflected back at her, giving the man a slightly intimidating effect. If the armor she was wearing didn't make her almost a foot taller then the man, it would have had a larger effect on her state of mind.

To her relief, he brushed past her and started walking to the bridge. "Why are we still standing around?"

**Plague POV**

Adrenaline was pumping through his veins as he heard the beating of his mechanical heart in his chest.

If there was one thing Plague couldn't tolerate it was a rapist. Those who preyed on women and threw them to the side like a used rag, or killed when they were done with them.

Plague may have far different morals compared to other people, but he was taught by his father to hold women in a high regard. He respected those of the opposite gender greatly, and wouldn't harm a hair on their heads unless it was exceedingly necessary.

If he recognized that voice during the mission or in the future, he would kill the man seconds after he spoke his first words within proximity of Plague's hearing.

And that was a large distance.

Shepard and Jacob had caught up to him as he stepped on the beach and took a position at his employer's right side as the Cerberus operative took the left.

Shepard had put her helmet on before reaching him, and gave Plague a small surprise sense of security. He didn't know where that train of thought came from, but he had to admit him walking side by side someone with power armor had an effect on him. It was as if he momentarily developed a herd animal's way of thinking and followed the being as if she were the leader of the small herd.

In a way, she was.

It must have been his time amongst The Brotherhood of Steel that made him act this way. A small part of him felt like he was back home.

A small insignificant part.

**Taylor Shepard POV**

Plague's reaction surprised her. Sure she knew by now that Plague had a strong sense of respect and a chivalries attitude towards women, but somehow she couldn't stop thinking about what the man said.

His voice was full of irritation and disgust aimed at the man in the recording. She could see him resting his hand on the handle of his machete as if daring the rapist to pop up right in front of him so that he could cut him down.

She at least understood they shared that part of their individual mindsets. She didn't know what she would do if the man was right in front of her. The right thing for her to do would be to incapacitate the man and make him spend the rest of his life behind bars. And then there was what she wanted to do.

Break every bone in his body with her biotics. What she wouldn't give to see such a man's face when he realized he was being reduced to nothing by a member of the female community.

Not a lot of women were able to defend themselves properly when assaulted in such a manner. She however was an exception. She defended herself when her home was destroyed. If she was strong enough to fight back then before her military training, and the upgrades given to her by Cerberus, then she can sure as hell do it now.

As they walked, she saw stacks of crates and lockers littering the beach. The whole scene looked wasteful. If they had put up the effort to salvage their supplies and belongings, then why would they leave them here?

The neural decay didn't take effect that quickly, did it?

Before she could voice her thoughts she saw a small flicker of movement behind a close row of crates. It looked like a head with dark brown hair had popped up to look at them and quickly went back into hiding.

"It's a woman." Plague voiced next to her in a calm voice. How he was able to deduce such, and speak so calmly after his reaction on the wrecked ship was surprising. "She took a look at you before going back into hiding. Recommend no sudden movements. She is… scared."

That last piece of information made her saddened. What if this survivor was mistreated like the others mentioned in the recordings, or worse, the woman the man in Plague's recording was talking about.

She put her weapon away and walked around the row of crates slowly with her hands in the air to show she was unarmed.

The woman saw her and went still for a moment before trying to back up slowly. It was when she saw her wide teary eyes that she realized the armor she was wearing scared her. She had to admit it was not that subtle.

"Everything is going to be ok." she began and saw how the woman looked at her changed a little as she reached for her helmet. When the helmet hissed when depressurizing the member of the crew flinched. "I'm not going to hurt you."

When her face became visible, the woman showed signs of shock when she realized Shepard was a human like her.

Slowly she got up and started taking hesitant steps to the Commander before starting to talk.

"You are… like me?" she began as if she was still in disbelief that the heavily armored figure before her was both the same species and gender as herself. "You came… from the sky?" she asked while sounding like she was having a lot of difficulty forming her sentences. "The leader said someone would come! He delayed for so long, but he still has power."

As she talked, Shepard took in the shape she was in. She was wearing a mix of gray and brown civilian rags. They had some rips and looked filthy and covered in dirt. Some places she couldn't tell if it was naturally brown or just dirt stains.

Next she took in the woman's face. She still looked a little scared, but at the same time looked in awe. It was how those eyes reminded her of a child that she really felt a strong sense of sadness. Before her was a human who looked as if she was clawing at what memories she had left so she wouldn't lose them. Even now she looked deep in thought.

"Some lost faith." she explained before her eyes changed to fear again as her face looked as if in deep worry and panic. "The hunters! They will have seen your star. They will not let you help him."

The star part was easy to decipher as her talking about the shuttle. But this leader? Did she mean Jacob's father? And what was that about hunters?"

"Calm down." she said gently as she stepped closer. "What are you talking about?"

"I - I, uh… I don't remember how to say it." she sounded as if looking for the right thoughts were painful. "He's our leader, and we serve so… we can go home. But some want to fight him. They were - they were cast out. He exiled them, so they hunt his machines and those who help him. They don't believe that rescue will…"

Before she could finish, Sheperd heard a sound to her right as someone vaulted over the stack of crates to her left. When she heard a gunshot, she instinctively went for her pistol and moved to push the women to the ground to find Plague was holding her.

It took her a second to realize he had let his shields take a shot that would have killed the woman.

After that, she aimed to her right to see some men swarming for cover further up the path. Shepard dashed for cover behind a nearby crate, going lower then usual do to the slightly bulky frame of her armor, as Plague did the same with the woman still clinging onto him. She assumed Jacob was doing the same behind them.

"Hunters!" the woman in Plague's arms warned as her voice shook. "They won't stop until the leader is dead!"

"And us, I'm assuming." Plague voiced as he drew his revolver and aimed with his free left hand over the crate he used for cover as the other was wrapped around the woman he had saved protectively.

"Kill them!" a man ordered angrily as Shepard heard scuffled footsteps. "Agents of the liar! He will not escape!"

Rounds bounced off of her cover as she placed the power armor's helmet back on her head.

"Stand down!" she tried to shout over the gunfire.

She didn't want to kill them. They clearly were affected by the plant life like the woman with Plague. Her military training was kicking in as well, telling her not to kill the civilians, but she saw no other way.

She waited until there was a small pause in gunfire before aiming out of cover to shoot three quick rounds at a man aiming for Plague, and the woman's cover.

She had fired those three rounds so that the first two would take down his shields while the third would hopefully just wound him, but she instantly felt disgusted with herself when all three rounds encountered no resistance and tore into the mans chest.

They didn't even have kinetic barriers.

Before she could recover from the revelation, Plague shot at the men taking cover behind a large section of a pipe on its side that had to of come from the Gernsback.

One went down with a shot to the head, making the other go back down in cover.

She powered up her biotics before leaning out of cover again to send a singularity near the container to the left of the pipe and managed to hit two others who were using it for cover.

Jacob took this as an opportunity to bioticly lift the man Plague had missed. The sounds of gunfire paused as the two remaining men must have stopped to take in the sight. Their hesitation gave Shepard and Jacob the opportunity to take them out before they were able to take cover.

Before she or the operative could make their next move, they heard three fast gunshots that rang over the small battlefield.

Shepard followed the point of origin to the now spinning revolver in Plague's hand. The woman Plague was protecting was sitting next to the cover Plague had been using. He must have put her there so that he could have his other hand free to quickly pull back the hammer of the firearm in between shots.

When she looked back at the men she and Jacob had taken out of the fight with their biotics she saw nothing but floating bodies. All of which had one thing in common. One bullet in each of their heads. (Perk: Sniper)

**Plague POV**

Plague saw the hesitation by both Jacob and his employer. That told him they didn't like the idea of putting the dangerous men down. If they had been able to incapacitate them, there would have been a chance the small bit of mercy would get them killed later.

In Plague's mind if it was dangerous and at the moment trying to, or about to, or any variation of, try to kill you; you have to act quickly and either strike first, or find some form of compromise to avoid the battle.

"You alright?" he asked as he looked over to the woman sitting on the ground next to him. All of the hostiles were down at the moment anyway. She give him a skittish glance before nodding her head. "Good to hear." he replied as his visor opened so she could see his face. "Boss?"

He had turned away from the woman who appeared to be rooted to the spot to see Shepard walking up to the first man who died in the skirmish. When she kneeled down he thought she was doing what anyone back home would do. Look for ammunition on the corpse of the one who tried to kill you.

He remembered how different this existence was when the Commander reached down and closed the man's eyes before she lightly shook her helmeted head.

Such pity would have earned her no reword on his radioactive homeworld. If anything, someone would have saw the act as an opportunity to take what she had after she was shot in the back.

Jacob had walked up behind her while Plague was in his thoughts. As he walked up he heard the quiet conversation they started.

"My father wouldn't let this go on." Jacob said defensively a little louder then they had been talking. "Something is very wrong."

"At nightfall we shall see who hid the stars of destiny with their lights that shined the way for their own actions." Plague commented cryptically. At least he thought he sounded a little cryptic.

Sometimes he just rambled…

"What does that mean?" Jacob asked angrily. Apparently he wasn't being "cryptic" enough. "Are you implying something?"

Plague looked at the man with a calm look on his face before speaking. "The possibility of your father being a savior or wrongdoer is not on debate. It is good for you to naturally hold on to the hope that he is a good guy. But I think it would be a good idea for you to place those childhood memories away from your way of thinking, and use them as a drive to find out what is really happening. What I mean to say is "Don't keep your hopes up." and "We will find out eventually."

"Enough." Shepard ordered, trying to lower the hostility as she looked at them. "Plague. We can have this conversation later. For now, how is the girl doing?" she asked as she nodded her head in the direction Plague came from.

"She's a little shaken, but unharmed." he reported as his visor closed. "At least physically. I have no idea what state her mind is in."

She nodded at that and turned towards the path after they all looked back to see the woman glance over cover before disappearing again.

"Lets keep going." she said, not quite as an order, and sounded more like a suggestion.

Plague didn't need much persuading either way. "After you."

**Taylor Shepard POV**

'All these arguments.' she said to herself.

Why did 101 see it as necessary to antagonize Jacob? It didn't make much sense once you consider the small rule he had were he would respect those who showed respect to others.

Last she heard, the two men were neutral around each other on the ship. Only a small conversation here and there. They didn't even act like friends, and neither did they act like enemies. If anything they were just co-workers.

So why all the hostility?

Shepard stored those thoughts away and went back to the mission. It was then that she looked to her left. The path they were on showed a breathtaking view of the ocean. Another landmass in the distance, waves hit the rocks a little ways below.

If it wasn't for what happened here, she would have thought it looked beautiful. It was a disguise. Not intentionally, but was still able to make someone lower their guard.

As she looked at the ocean she saw Plague at the corner of her eye doing the same. He had started following her closely as if acting as a royal guard. This time he was walking to her left.

That wasn't what made her look at him though. It was the fact he was looking precisely in the same direction as herself. Before that train of thought could go any further a little screen popped up in her view.

"_Synchronizing visual feed." _the artificial voice announced into her ear. It still felt a little strange hearing Liara's voice speaking tech. _"Synchronization complete."_

The small black screen came to life and she saw the ocean again. Only this time it was at a different point of view. It had to be coming from Plague's helmet. He was zooming in on what looked like a small green bird with a long beak swooping down and snatching a small fish out of the water.

"Interesting." a voice said in her helmet. She knew who's voice it was, but she was a little surprised. "Most of the wildlife I have seen before joining up with you would attack me on sight. To see a naturally evolved ecosystem such as this is awe inspiring, really."

"Sorry to intrude." she apologized. "Not sure how I turned this on."

She heard a quiet chuckle at that. "When are we sure of anything that happens by mistake?" his voice told her he did not mind her looking through his eyes. "It's automatic. All my armors are synchronized. Comes in handy if I misplace something." he then looked away from the ocean to see an arching rock formation further up the path. She looked up as well and didn't see what grabbed his attention until he zoomed in.

"Is that a settlement?" Jacob asked next to them. Apparently he didn't hear their conversation. "They'd better be friendlier then the beach group. I need answers."

**Plague POV**

"Looks like just women." Plague observed when they were close enough. "They don't look violent. At least not now, anyway."

The group took in the image before them. There were tents, cooking fires, along with a poorly made structure in the distance. Once they walked under the rocky arch one of the women spotted them and signaled to some of the others. Before they knew it, they were being approached by over a dozen women who all looked at them curiously.

Some looked a little uneasy when they saw Shepard's armor. But that problem was rectified when she removed her helmet, making them all visibly relax.

"Maybe the decay affects genders differently." the only woman in the ground team guessed. "It could make men violent."

"Testosterone might play into a factor." Plague speculated as his more scientific side started to make itself known. "But the girl back on the beach said the men who were exiled became hunters."

"It doesn't matter right now. One of these people must know what my father has to do with this." Jacob said as he inserted himself into the conversation.

When Jacob stepped up, the looks on the women's faces went from curiosity and awe, to fear and shock as the gave them a wide berth.

"You have his face!" a woman said. Plague could hear some disappointment in her words. "He promised to call the sky, but he sends nothing."

Before any of them could ask that woman a question, another spoke.

"He forced us to eat… to… decay." she said as if thinking Jacob would do something to her. The fear was momentarily replaced with anger as she pointed at the man accusingly. "You are cursed with his face!"

"Not the best reaction to the family resemblance, Jacob." Shepard commented as the women started to move away from them and went back to what they were doing before, but still not daring to turn their backs on them as if they were unsure if they were a threat.

"Why would my father force his crew to eat toxic food?" Jacob asked no one in particular after letting a an exasperated sigh. "Whatever's happening here needs to stop."

"That's something I think we all could agree on." said Plague as he started walking to, what he guessed was a supply crate. Once he was close enough he could small some spoiled food before a even thought of opening it. "They had edible food here at one point. If that were the case, then they would have had something other to eat."

"And yet they have the decay." Shepard finished his train of thought.

"They've been eating only that toxic local food for who knows how long." Jacob voiced and then looked back to the women. "Like that wasn't obvious enough. And look at that structure. Somebody had to push them to make that. That's borderline… worship."

"Longer I am here, the more I want to shoot something." 101 confessed as they moved on. "Well… That's convenient." he said as a familiar sound reached his ears.

When they made it out of the group of tents they heard heavy foot stops. When Jacob and Shepard saw the trio of LOKI mechs coming from up the path in front of them, they both went for cover as Plague stayed and started firing.

Plague had taken down one of the machines quickly with two rounds in its head and started firing at the next. That one went down fast since both he and Shepard were aiming at it. The third was put down by Jacob.

He barely caught the synthetic voice saying _"Your captain demands obedience. Weapons are forbidden." _over the gunfire.

"They didn't really hesitate much, did they?" Plague said to himself as he started to approach a woman who was at the moment making herself as small as humanly possible. And once looking back the way they came, he saw the other women doing the same. "Why are those machines on a kill setting?"

Plague knew he was safe when fighting a machine, it was the chance of him or an innocent bystander getting hit in the crossfire.

"You… have his face… but you fight his… machines." the woman began when they were close enough. She gave them an awestruck look, but 101 could see she was focusing on Jacob with some surprise and relief. "You might stop this." she then hands Jacob a datapad before continuing. "This… I forget how to… read, but this… was the start. What he promised, and what they did to us." she then slipped past them and started backing away. "We need the sky." the woman confessed longingly as if returning home was a wonderful dream. Compared to what they had all gone through, Plague guessed that was an accurate way to describe it. "Take us back to the sky."

Plague watched her leave for a bit as Jacob read the data pad. He looked to the operative as the seconds ticked by. It was easy to see the man was becoming more and more disgusted with what he was reading.

"Jacob! What does it say?" Shepard asked in a voice that made it perfectly clear she almost didn't want to know.

The vault dweller agreed.

"It's a crew logbook. Some of them thought the beacon repair was taking too long." Jacob read after taking in a breath. "They were afraid they'd run out of supplies and loose their minds to the decay."

'Sounds like a perfectly reasonable concern.' Plague thought to himself.

He knew that kind of fear. To starve in the middle of nowhere. He had even starved enough to begin to think eating dirt could help.

"My father restricted the ship food for himself and the other officers so they wouldn't be affected." Jacob read on. "Everybody else had to eat the toxic food and hope for treatment later." he then lowered the pad and looked Shepard in the eyes. "The rest is a casualty list. A few mutinied over the decision. My father and his officers turned the mechs on them."

"Sounds like the fuck was feeling the pressure." Plague commented with scorn, causing Jacob and Shepard to look at him. "Weaklings go straight to violence, when the idea of power gets in their heads."

" It didn't stop there." Jacob explained as he looked back at the pad. "More incidents, harsh punishments. It's like they're cattle. Or toys." Plague's blood was boiling furiously at this point. If he didn't know any better, he would have worried if his heart would give out. On second thought… that could actually happen… He could find a replacement within the next seventeen years, so no hurry. "In a year, all the male crew members are flagged as "Exiled" or dead." Plague could see the man's grip tighten harder on the pad, turning the knuckles white as he continued. "They separated out the women. Assigned them out to officers like pets."

"Sack of filth!" Plague shouted as he began to pace with steady strides as his upper body visibly shook with rage. "This is perverse."

"After the beacon was fixed, the officers appear in the casualties, too. After. My father took control and didn't stop it." Jacob finished with a look of anger about him.

"Do you see an explanation for this?" Shepard asked with her arms crossed and a look of disgust on her face. "He's your…"

"Of curse there isn't an "Explanation" for this!" Plague practically exploded. "What kind of innocent individual would say this…" he hand waved in the direction of the female camp. "… was fucking necessary?"

Plague's outburst made his fellow members of the ground team give him a surprised look that also looked like it held some understanding as well.

"He is not my father." Jacob seethed, as he looked back to Shepard and started answering her question. "None of this fits. Maybe the initial decision, but the rest? Abuse of power doesn't get any clearer then this." he then stored the datapad away and looked back to Shepard. "I need to find this man."

'Me to.' Plague said to himself as he started to follow the two. 'Ronald Taylor, is a dead man!'

**Taylor Shepard POV**

By far, this was the first time Shepard started to hat her fist name. Jacob was probably thinking the exact same thing.

Plague had gone quiet as well. After that news, that would be understandable, but the way he was carrying himself made her start to worry. She was worried for both of the men in the small group.

Jacob had just found out his own flesh and blood condoned, and most likely participated in, raping.

And then there was Plague. She could actually see his shoulders shaking as he gripped his machete tightly at his waist.

After they used those deactivated mechs to blast through the small blockade, the man just completely isolated himself. She tried to synchronies their helmets again, but all she got was a red text saying Plague refused.

She let out a sigh as they continued. After having to deal with those mechs, no one really bothered to holster their weapons.

Phalanx pistol in hand, Shepard kept walking and paused for a moment when they saw a corpse.

The shapes told Shepard they were all men. The one that looked posed looked the oldest. Short hair, civilian cloths. Clearly all members of the lost crew.

"He's been here a while. Likely used as a warning. The rest are a little more recent." Plague commented before going quiet again.

"The hunters started fighting back." Jacob said as a man's voice was broadcast over a speaker nearby.

The look of hatred made Shepard realize who it was.

"_This is Ronald Taylor. Thank god you're here! My crew went insane. I only just got free." _

'Bastard.' Shepard thought to herself as she saw a clearing coming up.

"_Careful. I automated my defenses after the crew turned violent." _almost exactly when he finished giving the warning, Shepard practically heard a mass accelerated round go past her head. All three of them ran up and took cover behind a nearby crate. _"They keep attacking! I had no choice."_

On the other side of the cover, she saw a group of five LOKI mechs firing at their cover as they walked out of behind an unorganized stack of crates surrounding a dimly glowing generator.

"He had plenty of choices." Jacob said over the gunfire as he stepped out of cover to bioticly lift a mech into the air. "Little late to blame his victims."

The operative fired his machine gun pistol into the mech in the air before switching to the last one to exit cover. Shepard was taking down the shields on one of the first mechs as a mass ran right past her.

She was about to shoot it when she realized it was Plague running up on the machines with his machete out in a reverse grip.

The first one he got to was instantly decapitated. He then used the same fluid motion to hit the bottom of another mech's gun with the barrel of his revolver as it was firing and some how managed to make it go under the synthetic's head, making it practically commit suicide.

Shepard and Jacob fired at the last mech and it fell in a heap of metal.

She was about to run up and give Plague a lecture until she saw him aim his revolver to the right and fire three rounds before reloading, empty casings atomizing before they hit the ground.

Staying low, she saw that the small clearing was actually larger then she had thought. To the right of the generator was more space filled with crates.

The three additional mechs, who had been walking to the part of the clearing the ground team was in, were on the ground.

To the left there was nothing but a cliff with a view of the ocean below, as some more crates were lined against the cliff wall to the right.

She could see a crudely made tannery with a half finished hide hanging on it as well.

It was strange seeing the current day eezio generator, and the tannery, in the same setting. It was almost like they had gone back in time before metalworking was even considered an option.

"To the left!" Plague shouted before Shepard could talk.

She followed his advice and saw the five mechs walking into the area from a path along the side of the cliff. Without a second thought, she sent out a shockwave and dealt with them all in one fell swoop. They were all sent flying over the cliff to the ocean below.

"And then there were three." Plague commented hollowly as they started walking. "Three to cast the king from his throne, at which he himself should not own. For the people are enraged. No longer hail the tyrant who is now besieged."

Those words made Shepard quiet.

'What?' was the only word going through her mind at that moment.

Shepard and Jacob made eye contact in temporary confusion before looking forward.

"101? Are you alright?" she asked as she looked at the man to her right at the corner of her eye.

"Why would you ask, my Queen?" Plague asked back, making Shepard pause at the title. "For we are at the gates to partake in an execution."

"Only if I say so." Shepard said with surprise in her voice.

The words made them all stop.

"This man disserves worse!" he shouted as he faced her. "What do you plan on doing once we get to the piece of shit?"

"What I am going to do, and what I want to do, are two separate things." Shepard answered, receiving a tilt of the head. "In the end, the final decision is not up to us."

Again, the man just stared at her with that helmet. She didn't know if he was glaring at her, or seeing what else she would say.

After a few seconds ticked by, Plague spoke. "Like I said before, Boss. He disserves worse."

"I say we cross that road when we get to it." Jacob said. "We should move. No point being here longer then we have to."

After a silence, Shepard started walking again, and soon heard the two sets of footsteps following, one heavier then the other.

"God save the Queen." she heard behind her.

She let out another sigh.

With that conversation out of the way, she still had Plague's question drifting in her head.

'What would I do?'

**Plague POV**

'If Shepard wants to be a goody two shoes, then let her.' Plague thought to himself as old memories and emotions started to surface.

When the next group of mechs showed themselves in the next clearing that went away from the cliff, and back into the jungle, Plague didn't hesitate.

Shepard and Jacob took cover behind a crate, while Plague sprinted with his machete held at his side.

His shields were hit a little bit by the machines when Plague was momentarily between them and the other two members of the ground team.

Even then, they still had nothing to defend themselves with when the invisible being to them hit the group of three.

Plague's machete cleaved one's head in two while he shot another with his revolver in the torso. Both went down instantly.

The third didn't even seem to notice it's two mechanical brethren fall and continued firing at the humans returning fire from behind cover, That was until the arm holding the weapon was sliced off, and was shortly followed by the other.

It looked at it's arms for a moment before it looked ahead and started walking.

Before it could go far though, Plague put his weapons away and grabbed it by the neck.

The mech couldn't process what was happening until it was sent flying off of the cliff.

"Satisfying." Plague said to himself as he turned around to receive a glare. Well… with that helmet on it was hard to tell. Sure felt like a glare…

"Don't do that again." Shepard ordered as she stood before him.

He could feel the slight anger and irritation in her voice, but there was some other things in there as well. He quickly identified them as fear. Why fear? He didn't quite know.

He may have been able to identify it, but that didn't mean he understood the emotion completely. Funny now that he thought about it, however.

Fear was an emotion he knew well. He had both seen and felt it through his life. There was the sense of fear brought on by knowing your life was going to end. The fear that grips an individual when threatened by change. And there were many others.

Those were just the ones he was most familiar with.

After a few seconds something in his head ticked. At least he thought it was in his head. Would suck if something was in his helmet other then his own head.

Wouldn't that be interesting?

No… He had seen this sense of fear before.

Yes… when his father died… but that was out of fear of his own death.

It… was out of worry… for his son's life.

'Dad took death head on, and took some Enclave filth with him.' he said to himself.

He felt the same way towards Sarah when she died in almost the exact same way.

This whole train of thought only took a few seconds to him, so when he mimed tilting a hat to his employer, she seemed a little surprised.

"Yes, Boss."

Before any other words could be said, a round hit Plague's shields, making them all duck into cover.

"_It took years to train my guards." _Ronald said over the speakers. At least Plague knew mechs still couldn't see him. _"I'm afraid you'll have to fight them to rescue me."_

"Throwing people away." Jacob said furiously. "This… thing… is not my father."

"Plague. Move up!" he heard his employer shout as a blue light was seen on both sides. "Jacob. Covering fire!"

When the two stood out of cover and started firing, Plague bolted around the crate and took in what was before him as his pip-boy sent adrenalin to his brain. The battlefield slowed to a crawl as he saw a man out of cover, ramming another heat sink into his pistol.

If he had to describe the battlefield, he would have said it looked like a junkyard. Crates were everywhere, half made tents, hand made tools. All highly unorganized.

The man's thermal clip was now slid half way in as Plague's started to slowly slide behind a box while his right hand reached for his revolver.

The heat sink was now in, and the man had just saw him and started to raise the gun to aim.

Plague was faster though. In a small fraction of a second, Plague pulled his weapon out and just fired as soon as it was in front of him.

What happened would have been a little funny if this were a better time.

The round sailed through the air and clipped the left side of the gun. That was not the funny bit though.

You see, the force caused the small firearm to suddenly turn in the man's grip, and by the time he pulled the trigger, the gun was aimed right at his head.

Since the shot's point of origin was within his kinetic barrier, there was zero resistance.

To put it simply, the top of his head just fucking exploded.

'That is going in the album.' Plague thought to himself as his back hit his cover.

He looked over cover and could see a poorly made metal wall in the background, and a few yards in front of him was a small bridge like structure. Seemed like an odd place to put such a raised platform, but who was he to judge?

Back to the battlefield, multiple rounds slammed into his right side, making his barrier shimmer with it's rusty red before he went back into cover.

Jacob then stood up again and provided covering fire for Shepard, who then ran up and went next to Plague, pistol still in hand.

"Having fun?" Plague shouted.

"Who wouldn't want to be wearing an unnecessarily bulky set of armor in a fire fight?" she yelled back sarcastically before getting even lower.

Plague laughed a little at that and fired out of cover when there was a pause in rounds hitting his cover. He managed to clip a man's shoulder, making the individual drop his weapon and fall. Before he was completely out of view, Plague fired again and saw the round enter the chest.

"Ask me later, and I might be able to rebuild a custom set for you." he yelled as he want down again, and Shepard took his place and fired. "But we should test the tesla coils to see if they actually do anything for you."

She went back into cover before speaking. "As much as I appreciate the thought, maybe we should talk about this later. And how did you plan on testing it?"

"Simple." he then leaned in a little closer. "Tesla armor. Full power. Activate coils."

**Taylor Shepard POV**

"_Tesla coils online." _Liara's voice announced_. _

Before she could say a word, she suddenly felt a giant boost in her biotic power. Looking to her right, she saw the coils on her shoulders ark energy, but it wasn't red like when Plague had showed it to her.

The color was a dark blue.

She remembered when Plague told her the suit amplified the effects of energy based weapons, but now she was a little hesitant to see what it would do when the individual wearing it was technically categorized as a weapon. Her skin felt like it was tingling, making her wonder if it was tempering with her cybernetics.

As she stood up, lightning like biotic energy flowed to her hands as she waved at an enemy.

Instantly, the man behind the crate flew to the left and broke his neck when his head collided with another crate.

That wasn't what she wanted to do at all. The intention was to send out a biotic push so he would fly out of cover. She had used the same amount of effort, so maybe now she had to restrain herself a little.

"That my friend was beautiful." she heard to her right over the humming on her shoulders.

Shepard looked to the next target and visualized a warp as her hand aimed. She made sure to reduce the amount of power used, but still made the man's chest explode, making her stomach turn.

"Jacob. Move up!" she shouted as she ran forward to the next cover.

"Heavy mech!" Jacob Shouted.

She looked to her right and saw the TMIR mech stomp it's way into the clearing. Her eyes widened when she realized it's rocket arm was aiming right at her.

Reflexively, she made a biotic barrier around herself and felt the energy wash over her.

The next thing she heard was a muffled explosion when the light made her closer her eyes shut. Shepard felt an impact that made her slide back a little. If she hadn't have seen the rocket coming, the force would have taken her off of her feet.

When she opened her eyes she saw smoke and automatically sent out a shockwave with a waved hand.

Instantly grinding metal was heard as she went for the nearest cover.

She waited for another rocket to hit her cover, but it never came.

"All hostiles down." Plague shouted excitedly as if he had just seen fireworks.

When the commander looked over her cover her jaw dropped

Where she had been standing was untouched, but the direction she was facing was razed. A two foot wide, and a few inches deep, trench went from it's point of origin, to where the mech was standing. A little farther then that was the mech itself, gutted in front and on it's back.

"Plague." she called out hoarsely.

"Yeah, Boss?" he acknowledged as he came up next to her and appeared to be inspecting the armor.

"Maybe that's… too much power…"

**Plague POV**

'Beautiful! Just fucking beautiful!' he yelled in his mind as he watched the blue energy arc on the armor's shoulders.

This was exhilarating. Not only did the armor function properly when powered by a biotic's power, but it could harness it and amplify the effects as well.

And the destruction? Oh god, the destruction. She just ripped the motherfucker apar…

"Did you hear me?" Shepard said again, taking out of his thoughts. "It's too much."

"Yeah. I heard you. I'll deal with the power flow lat…"

"No. Deal with it now!" she almost yelled, making Plague look at her.

"Why?" he asked until he noticed she was focusing fixatedly on something else while he was talking. "What's wrong?"

When he followed her gaze, he saw one of the bodies that had been… Shit.

It was the man who's chest exploded.

Most of the damage was at the left shoulder. That told him she had been trying to incapacitate the man. Instead, it looked like a swallowed a firecracker.

"Are you alright, Shepard?" Jacob asked as he stepped next to Plague.

"Turn this thing off, Plague." she ordered as she started to take off the helmet.

When the helmet was off, it caused Jacob to take a sudden step back, while Plague did a double take.

"What… the… fuck…?" Plague said slowly as he took in the sight before him.

"What is it?" she asked them in a shaky voice.

"It's… something alright." Plague said weakly. "Are you alright?"

He then received a confused look from a pair of brightly glowing blue orbs.

Shepard's eyes were glowing… bright blue. But that was only a miner distraction to the vault dweller. What confused him was what the other two couldn't see. It was the small specks of light drifting around her head.

"Boss. Do you have any other mechanical devices on your person?" he asked as calculations flew around in his head.

"She has cybernetics." Jacob answered.

"That… would have been something I should have been told earlier." Plague said to himself as he turned and started walking to the gutted machine. 'Shit, shit, shit, shit.'

"Why?" Shepard asked in a voice that sounded as if she was going to be told she was going to die. Not as emotional, but still similar.

"Because…" he started as he looked at the cleanly ripped apart metal of the mech. "I think… I just… turned you into a human atomizer."

The statement seemed to make the others go silent as Plague closely examined the metal. Either if it was out of surprise or confuseion, he didn't know.

Nothing on the mech was gone, so that told him she didn't acquire the mass. Looked like she just weakened the casing of it's energy source, so it exploded.

"Tesla armor. Deactivate coils." he ordered as he turned back to Shepard.

Almost instantly, the specks vanished. 'Thank god.'

Last thing he wanted was for a nice woman to be ripped apart down to the atomic level.

Her eyes dimmed, but still gave off a soft glow.

"I'm sorry, Boss." he apologized as he walked up to her. "I should have asked for some kind of medical file, or something."

"What happened?" she asked, now sounding annoyed.

"We will talk about it later." he said as he started walking to the gate in the distance with a green holographic display. "Lets finish this first."

**Taylor Shepard POV**

'That by far had to be the strangest firefight I had ever been in.' Shepard thought to herself as she opened the doors.

Her skin still tingled under the suit. She didn't dare put the helmet back on, and just let it hang on one of the deactivated coils.

That was too much power. She was thankful for it when her biotic barrier absorbed the rocket's impact, but when she had a moment to look at what she had done, she shivered.

She swallowed as she walked through the path with Plague and Jacob behind her.

When the walked into a small clearing with a man made enclosure. She saw a man standing at the improvised balcony.

There was no doubt in her mind that this man was Ronald Taylor. The first reason was because he clearly was not experiencing any of the known symptoms the other crew members showed. The next, and maybe the most concrete evidence was the fact that he was a splitting image of Jacob. Nose, eyes, chin,… practically everything. Only difference was grey hair, and crows feet.

When the man looked at her team he seemed to look momentarily confused. She couldn't tell if it was her armor, or the luminescent light coming from her eyes. Either way she really didn't care what the man thought.

"You're here!" he acknowledged as he walked up to her, only for Shepard to pass him and look over the view. "I knew a real squad would blow through just fine. Sorry if the mechs scuffed your pads."

A quick glance back showed Jacob glaring at his father, while plague thumbed the machete's handle on his waist. Refraining from going any further then that must have been excruciatingly difficult on Plague's part.

"I'll get you something nice once we get back to Alliance space." Ronald offered in a friendly tone that made Shepard's eyes narrow in disgust as she looked at the trees in the distance. "I've got to have some back pay coming."

"What about your crew, Acting Captain?" Jacob asked with anger coating every word.

"Total loss. The toxic food turned them wild." he lied through his teeth. "They propped me up here in some kind of ritual behavior. "Waiting for a chance to signal has been hell."

Her fists tightened as she heard Jacob speak again. "That's the best you can do?"

"You let all your people talk back like that… uh… who are you exactly?" Ronald asked as she turned around.

"Commander Shepard of the Normandy." she introduced with venom as she crossed her arms. "I believe you are acquainted with Mr. Taylor."

In that instant she saw emotions from confusion, to fear go across the disgusting, now sweating, man's face.

"Taylor?" he said in confusion before turning to the son, Shepard didn't think he disserved. "Jacob? No, not Jacob."

"Why not me?" Jacob asked scornfully as he stepped forward. "Would ten years of this look better to anyone else in the galaxy?"

"You have to understand. This isn't me." the sorry excuse for a human tried to cover as he looked off of the balcony. Probably to avert his eyes from his son. "The realities of command, they change you. I wasn't ready for that."

"Clearly." Plague voiced emotionlessly from where they all came.

"I made sure you were taught right." Ronald continued, ignoring Plague's snide comment, and turned back to the glare Jacob was giving him. "Before I left. I hope to leave it at that."

"I'm not unreasonable Captain." Shepard started calmly and then started reprimanding. "But ten years? What happened?" she finished as she walked off of the balcony to stand next to Plague, as far away from the man as possible.

"Goddamnit, why did you do this to your own crew?" Jacob asked his father in a voice that clearly showed how disgusted he felt at the moment.

Suddnly Shepard heard something to her right and looked to see a group of men walking up the path. Most likely the hunters.

She nodded her head to Plague, who caught on to what she was thinking. In response, he took out his machete and held it in a threatening defensive manner while he aimed at the men with his revolver.

"There was resistance to the plan." Ronald started again. "Mutiny. We had to take a hard line to keep order. And things settled down." he then turned away to look over the balcony as his hands rested on the safety rails. "As the decay set in, we made sure the crew were comfortable. Some even seemed happier. Ignorance is bliss, right? And they were thankful for guidance, like an instinct. Pure authority was… easy. At first." Shepard could see more hunters joined those on the path as he kept talking. To be honest, Shepard couldn't stand his voice anymore. "Months in, the effect lowered inhibitions. They got territorial. Rank, protocol - they couldn't understand. We had to establish dominance." Shepard now turned away to the path and stood next to Jacob. "After a while the perks seemed… normal."

"That's it?" Jacob asked as he took a step forward. "You created a harem and played king! Ten years in a juvenile fantasy?"

"I can't point to were it all went wrong." Ronald remarked tiredly as he turned back to them and stood in front of the Cerberus operative. "But when the beacon was ready, revealing what happened didn't sound like a good idea."

Shepard was tired of this man. "We can help these people." she said to Jacob. "Cerberus could have ships here in days and pull everyone out"

Suddenly, Jacob draw his pistol and aimed at his father with a look of pure disgust and anger on his face, making the man raise his hands in surrender with eyes widened in shock.

"He's not worth the fuel to haul him out, or the air he's breathing." as Shepard triad to calm him down, she couldn't help but notice Plague, eying the seen with interest. "He's damned lucky I don't think he is worth pulling the trigger." he then put the weapon away and leaned in closer to his father. "I don't know who you are. Because you aren't any father I remember."

Shepard visibly relaxed at that. She didn't know what she would have done if Jacob fired. "We'll secure him for an Alliance court. For every year here, he'll have ten to think about…"

"No!" Plague suddenly shouted as he turned on them and quickly made it to Ronald and grabbed the front of his shirt. He then pushed him close to the balcony. Once the man's upper waist was ever the real, he instinctively clung onto the arm as his feet dangled off of the ground.

"You can't do this!" he shouted, fear washing over him.

"101. Stand down!" Shepard ordered as both she and Jacob approached.

"This piece of trash does not disserve your mercy, Boss." he said back with no emotion. "If you two are afraid of the consequences, then allow me to make the galaxy a better place."

"Please. Don't do this!" Ronald begged when Plague lifted him a little more. "I'll serve my time. I'll let them lock me up. Just please don't do this!"

Shepard was about to say something about Plague not sinking to his level, when a static was heard coming from him.

"… _always said no." _A man's voice spoke._ "She even threatened a report if I didn't stop sending messages." _at this point, Plague was getting his helmed head as close to the man in his grip as possible, making sure he heard every word. _"But now she's so innocent." _Shepard then realized it was the audio log Plague found on the Gurnsback. _"They all are. And that look she gives when she smiles… It's sure easier now. What's the harm? We're stuck here anyway."_

The log ended with Ronald's eyes practically bulging out of his head in both fear and shock. Shepard felt an even stronger sense of disgust while Jacob looked like he felt the same way she did.

"Innocence is bliss, right?" Plague quoted Ronald's earlier words with anger covering every syllable. "I want you to fucking beg for your pathetic life."

"Don't do it." Shepard ordered, causing him to look at her with what she guessed was a puzzled look.

"Why would you want such a sick individual to live?" he asked after a small silence.

At this point, Ronald's eyes were screwed shut as he started mumbling to himself. A little late to start praying.

"Like I said before. It is not our choice." she reminded, making Plague look to the only individual who should have a say at the moment.

"As much as I want him to pay…" Jacob started as he rubbed his temples briefly. "… he is still my father. No matter how much that fact disgusts me." he then looked back to Plague, and his shocked father. "I say he goes away for a long time. If by some miracle he is somehow still alive at the end of his sentence… I'll put him down myself."

That made everyone silent for a few minutes. Shepard thought Plague needed some more convincing until the heap of trash he was holding, was thrown to the ground before her.

"I'm… alive?" Ronald breathed, sounding relieved. Once he looked up to her he started crawling closer. "Thank you. Thank… Ahhh!"

His sentence was cut off by a round hitting the ground before him, preventing him from getting any closer to her. When she looked up, she saw the round came from Plague's revolver that was now aiming right at the man on the ground.

"Any closer to anyone, and I'll end you." he seethed as he fired again, this round going right into Ronald's right ankle, making him holler in pain. "A reminder." Plague finished as he walked past them and started walking down the path, the hunters giving him a wide birth.

Shepard started to walk away and stopped when Jacob did.

"I… I'm sorry, Jacob." Ronald started again, even with his fingers covering the gun wound. "I did the… best I… could."

Jacob started walking again. Shepard thought he wouldn't say anything back, until the man spoke.

"I'm ten years past believing that."

The track back to the shuttle after making sure the hunters wouldn't be hostile any more was quiet. At first they were all confused until they realized Shepard was telling them they were going to be taken home.

Plague and Jacob didn't say a word to on another as they sat across from each other.

It wasn't until Jacob spoke, that the silence ended.

"I'm sorry." he said quietly while looking downward.

"What for?" Plague asked back as he inspected his revolver in his hand.

"What you said earlier." he explained. "When you were preparing me for the worst. I… shouldn't have snapped at you when I did. You were right."

Plague had put his weapon away and looked at the man. "Just because I happened to be right, does not mean I did not disserve what you said."

Jacob suddenly let out a tired chuckle at that. "Why do I get the feeling you have been through something like this before?"

That surprised Shepard. She was wondering while Plague acted the way he did around Jacob, and now she somewhat understood his hidden intentions.

"The only similarities between what happened to you and me, are so miner and insignificant, that it is hardly worth mentioning." he said as his visor opened, showing a tired individual. "I will not lie. I somewhat envy you right now." that shocked the both of them. "Not many get a second chance."

**Elsewhere **

"_How did he do this?" the Enclave soldier shouted as his armored hand slapped the woman before him. _

_The force of the blow, enhanced by the power armor he wore, made her head snap to the right. Anymore force and she would have broken her neck. _

_It had been like this for the last few days. She had been captured and tied to one of the seats within the vertibird. The tail end was gone as if it had been cut in half, letting the new world they found themselves in be visible through the large opening. _

_Outside looked beautiful to the woman. Lush vegetation, clear blue skies. If she looked hard enough she could see what looked like birds flying in the distance. Not carrion birds circling an old kill, but colorful ones that looked beautiful from a distance. First time she saw it she was dumbstruck._

_Before her was not the hell given to her and her people by those who nearly destroyed the world with their bombs. Instead she saw beauty and life. Even though she had seen a few of the rare pictures that survived the years, she still had no idea what the plants were, and neither could the woman identify the birds and small animals in the distance. _

_The Enclave with her acted the same way. They, like her, were taken out of a familiar environment. The only difference was she was restrained and helpless when the men recovered and replaced their confusion with unguided rage. The first day on this world she was beaten by two of them while the other ten watched. _

_It took her everything she had to muffle the gasps and pain filled groans._

_At first they did it because she couldn't defend herself. Her right arm was broken, while she had to guess the pain emanating from her ribs told her a few of them were in the same state. Once they stopped that day she had been drifting in and out of consciousness. _

_She wanted to see why they stopped and settled for staying motionless and listening to those around her. The pain going through her body made it difficult to pretend to be asleep. The wire holding her wrists and ankles to the seat bit into the flash. They were so tight she could feel a tingling sensation at her fingertips and toes telling her the wires were cutting off blood circulation. Her bad arm was throbbing in pain. _

_She tried to crack open her eyes and ended up only able to see out of one since the other was too swollen to allow any sight through it. _

_The armored footsteps were moving farther away to meet the other movements._

_She hated the men around her. Every time she ever saw them; they looked at her with eyes that looked as if they saw you as inferior. Everyone was filthy to them, and she wanted nothing more but to give each and every one of them a bullet in the head. Well, eight in the head. Two had groped her when she was first tied to the seat while another had actually dared to rip her leather armor at the chest and fondled her breasts, leaving them exposed to the air. Those three disserved rounds in more painful places. The contact disgusted her and she made this clear when she actually bit his hand and drew blood. Thankfully he removed his gauntlets before she did so. They may act like they were purer then everyone else, but deep down they were just as foul and perverted as a raider. Only difference was the attire. That earned her another slap. Even though her cheek stung, she had a grin on her face before spitting out that metallic taste. Every ounce of pain and discomfort she could inflict upon her captors was like a rare sip of ice cold clean water._

_They found her near New Vegas at night and took her by surprise. How they found her in the first place was unknown to her. One minute she was sitting at her campfire ready to drift to sleep, the next she awoke with an armored gauntlet covering her mouth as she was picked up from where she had been sleeping next to the road between two flipped cars. Her hands were held behind her back while her legs did nothing as she kicked them. After they had knocked her out she awoke in the seat. She had only heard of the Enclave before she was abducted, and from what she heard, she didn't really want to meet them in the first place. _

_At first they had interrogated her. She fought them of course, but one could only take so much pain before something slips. That one little slip made her feel disgusted with herself. They had broken her. She had killed someone she trusted and didn't know how to begin to deal with herself. _

_The whole reason she was here was simple. She knew the Courier, the vault dweller, the cannibal, the insane savage genius, the one who both freed and helped her with her revenge. The Enclave bogyman known by three numbers. _

_And she could only guess it was those three numbers that kept that one soldier from going any farther with her. The fear the Bogyman had inserted into the minds of him and his brothers in arms. _

_If her body was found by the one they feared, and him being the medical expert he was, he would know if she had been raped. Wounds like bruises were common in the world they lived in. It just meant she had survived another day in hell. But if he found out someone had taken advantage of someone he saw as a friend, he would no doubt search even harder to hunt down the ones responsible. _

_The odds of him finding her body back then were pretty low with the wildlife, but the Enclave still didn't like those odds. _

_Another slap sent her head to the left suddenly and forced her one useful eye to snap open in shock. She hadn't noticed the soldier in her blind spot. _

"_How the fucking hell did he get use here?" the man shouted in her face. _

_The bold man had been doing this since they had arrived a few days ago. Even though she didn't know the answer, she wasn't going to let him know that. She thought they would keep her alive if they thought she had answers to the questions shoved down her throat. _

"_F… uck… You!" she mumbled at first and yelled at the end once she found the strength to._

_She hadn't eaten or drank in days and they knew it. The lack of sustenance was starting to have an effect on her, and occasionally her vision would blur. When they had used her to find 101 they forced her to eat their scraps to survive. Now they ate what rations they had right in front of her. They had even killed some animals they all had never seen before from the surrounding jungle and cooked the meat over a fire just outside. The smell made her mouth water, while her rage boiled. _

_The only thing that pushed her to fight was the regret of letting the one man she trusted down again. She thought he was dead when she had heard the explosion as her vision went dark. But the way the power armored men acted showed they were not sure if he was dead. She remembered a darkness. A void surrounding her. How long she had been there alone was unknown to her. The darkness, the loneliness. She screamed for what felt like hours to her. Eventually those hours felt like days. Days into weeks. Weeks into years. She wanted someone to be with her, someone to talk to her, someone to tell her she was still alive and that the void she was in was not hell. When she saw the light she had thought she was saved. She had thought God had heard her cries. When she woke up again she expected piece. Instead she got… this!_

_She could feel the sweat running down her scarred face. Her body ached. The wires cut deeper into her skin with every movement she made. _

_She looked up to the Enclave and his buddies and gave them what they didn't expect._

_She smiled. _

_Her mind was filled with plans of how to escape, but they each had large flaws. She couldn't escape, but that didn't mean she couldn't relish the fear within the men. The fear left behind by the one and only, 1-O-1. _

"_He… is going… to kill you." she rasped quietly, making everyone listen carefully. The bold commander next to her simply scowled at what she had said, and slapped her again. This time she felt that familiar metallic taste in her mouth. Her lip was bleeding again. She spat out the blood in her mouth and groggily looked up at the man. "I.. bet… you'll be fir… GAHHH!" _

_In the middle of her sentence the bold man had jabbed a small baton in her stomach. Not even a second later she felt electricity surging through her body. The remains of the vertibird were filled with her screams and wails. The metal wire burned her flesh, filling the space with the smell of ozone it produced. She screamed until her voice finally cracked, reducing the sound to that of a forced silent cry of pain and misery. _

_When it stopped she was partially thankful she hadn't eaten or drank for a few days. For if she had, she would have no doubt soiled herself. And the idea of sitting with her leather armored pants full of her own filth almost disgusted her as much as the men who had taken her. _

_Her form was slouched in the seat and for a moment you could have thought she was dead. _

_After what felt like an eternity, a sound left her lips and sounded forced and hard to hear do to the strain on her voice box. But they all heard the words clearly before the woman slipped into unconscious._

"_The… Plague is… coming… for you… all… And I will… be there… to watch…"_

* * *

><p><strong>Bet you guys didn't see that coming. What could this all mean? Who is this mystory surviver trapped by the , thought to be dead, Enclave?What are the kinks in Shepard's armor? Well I can't tell you now. Sorry.<strong>

**Anyway it is time for somthing we haven't had in a while. A QUIZ QUESTION!**

**What is the name of the woman Plague saved on the beach? **

**See you guys next time.**


	19. Chapter 19 To Survive One Must Do SO

**The winner is lonutRO. The survivor's name was never given. Even if you ask her what it is. It was a bit of a trick question.**

* * *

><p><strong>The Wildcard<strong>

**Chapter 19**

"Alliance ships are inbound to secure Captain Taylor and his crew, Commander." Joker informed over the COM. "We'll be long gone by the time they get here."

Shepard paused for a moment on her way to the conference room, now wearing her civilian rags. As soon as they got back on the Normandy, Shepard immediately changed out of the tesla armor and delivered it straight to its owner.

She had gone to Chakwas to see if the suit was tampering with her cybernetics. Thankfully, there was nothing wrong with them. She did not necessarily like the idea of going back under the scalpel. Especially with a random thought that started going through her head, involving a certain female Cerberus operative talking about how if she had it her way, she'd have put a control chip in her head.

That just made shivers run down her spine.

"As much as it pains me to say it. Don't even give them the taillights." she said back as she continued walking.

"Roger that." said joker before cutting the line.

**Kasumi Goto POV**

'Beautiful.' Kasumi said to herself as she sat in her usual spot in her room.

She was wearing the suit Plague made her, and spent most of her time since, looking over the design. It was better armored then her other cat suits, while at the same time felt twice as comfortable.

It had to be made of that nerve materiel he usually made Shepard wear. Difference was she could wear it in public, while Shepard had to wear something over her version, unless she wanted others to think she was walking around in some kind of naughty latex lingerie.

The thought made a giggle a little, as she messed with the front of the suit.

For some reason, there was a strange bit of extra cloth in front of her throat. It was stretchy, but she doubted she could pull it over her head. Although, now that she thought about it, a reverse hood would seem like a disadvantage. That is unless you were playing pin the tail on the donkey.

When she considered pulling it up while her hood was already on her head, imagine her surprise when it suddenly came to life and connected with the hood.

Once the shock went away, she looked at the reflective glass in her room to see the cloth worked with the hood to create cowl that covered her mouth and nose as if she was wearing a scarf.

She smiled when she realized Plague had put into an account, her carrier choice. Funny once you thought about it.

Usually a friend would try to dissuade the individual from being a cat burglar.

In addition, here he was, actually supporting her.

Although, technically he himself would be pegged as a negative influence. Well… Who on the ship wouldn't? Everyone on the ground team has killed before, and every one else works for Cerberus.

"_Hello." _a synthesized female voice greeted her out of nowhere. _"It's nice to meet you. Are you my new friend?"_

'That's not EDI.' she thought to herself. "Who's there?" she asked as she stood up and looked around the room.

The door did not even open.

"_I do not have a name. I am sorry." _the voice said back in a slightly saddened tone, also helping Kasumi realize the voice was coming from the inside of her hood. "_I am Kasumi Goto's personal combat, reconnaissance, and stealth Artificial Intelligence. I have been installed into the Stealth Suit MK3, which original design belonged to Big Mountain." _Kasumi's eyes widened when she heard that. She understood Plague used AI's, but it still surprised her._ "The changes in the design, of the suit you are currently wearing was manufactured by Big Mountin's CEO and head of the scientific branches of the Think Tank."_

"You are in the suit?" Kasumi asked to clarify as she started to relax a little once she realized Plague would not give her something hazardous to her health.

"_You are correct." _it… she answered. _"This is the second suit to house a copy of me. Are you Kasumi Goto?"_

"Yes…" she answered and immediately heard a girlish squeal.

"_Who can I hide you from today?" _the AI asked cheerfully as Kasumi tried to get over the shock of hearing a voice screech in her ears at practically point blank like a giddy teenage girl.

"I… don't need hidden at the moment." she told her as she started walking to the bar. "Why did Plague put you in the suit?"

"_I would guess for Science reasons, but The Courier does not fancy that field much." _the AI explained.

"Who's Courier?" Kasumi could not help herself to ask.

"_The CEO of Big Mountain has gone by many aliases over the years."_ she explained as Kasumi got herself a drink_. "The Courier is the first alias he has used within Big Mountain." _

"Interesting." Kasumi remarked as she realized this was a good chance to gain some more information on her friend, while at the same time getting to know her new one. "What did you mean when you said he doesn't fancy science?"

There was a small silence before the AI answered. _"The CEO of Big Mountain has rarely gotten himself involved in the decisions, and experiments taken place by those within the Thank Tank. When ever he did, he would only suggest small changes, all while not fully getting involved with someone else's experiment."_

"What kind of experiments are we talking about?" Kasumi asked as she walked back to her seat with a glass of batarian ale.

Watered down of course, she did not want to get hammered.

The whole "Big Mountain" thing would have supported her guess long ago that Plague stole the gear he used. Would as in, if she didn't already know he was telling her the truth. And Plague being a CEO of something? Now that was unexpected.

"_There are many scientific branches within Big Mountain. The top being mineralogy, humanology, and medicine. Run by Doctor Dala. The uses of sound waves. Run by Doctor 8." _Kasumi paused when she realized the AI said the person's name was a number. _"Doctor Borous specializes in canine cybernetics. Doctor 0..." _there's another number. _"… Specializes in dismantling robotics. These four work under the supervision of Doctor Klein, chief head researcher of logistical operations and idea-ology, co-CEO of Big Mountain."_

Once the AI was finished, Kasumi sat there in silence before lowering the cloth covering her mouth to take a sip of her beverage. The pleasantly burning liquid making her relax. Once she had a few seconds to think after, she slumped back in the seat she was on.

"I may not be a scientist, but I am pretty sure some of those don't count as scientific fields of expertise." she voiced as she looked out the large window to her left. "And I think that dismantling robotics guy got gypped. Anyone with a wrench and screwdriver can take apart something."

"_Let it be noted that I have not been the first to say so." _the AI agreed.

Kasumi laughed at that, and was extremely surprised when the AI did the same.

"Do… do you have emotions?" she asked before her mind could finish processing the program's laughter.

"_The first version of me was only self aware, with a small understanding of human emotions." _she explained. _"Since then the original went through many upgrades and experiments. I am the ending result. I can see why something my seem comical, scary, gross, and depressing. I am an exact copy of my mother AI."_

'This is extraordinary.' Kasumi thought to herself.

Not only is the AI self aware, but it has a full set of emotions as well. Making it practically sapient. Such technology was beyond the top technological geniuses of her generation. The amount of credits such an AI would fetch outside of Citadel Space would be exponential! Not that she would sell, the suit after Plague put so much work into it, but the concept of him making her a gift that would be worth far more then those in the black market can provide made her speechless. And that was without the nerve material the suit was made out of.

"_Miss Goto?" _the AI asked after a long silence drifted by. _"Are you alright? I know you are all right, but I don't know what is wrong with you. Does your heart usually beat this quickly? Miss Goto? Kasumi Goto? Kasumi? Goto? Kasumi? Goto? Kasumi? Goto? Kasumi ? Goto? Goto? Kasumi? Kasumi Goto? Goto? Kasumi? Kasumi? Goto Kasumi? Kasumoto?"_

"What?" she asked suddenly with a fit of laughter from hearing the childish song made by the Artificial Intelligence. "I… I think we are going to get… along just fine."

"_I know." _she responded quickly without hesitation. "_We have things in common."_

'This is going to be good.' Kasumi thought to herself as she took another sip. Wearing a suit that might as well be made out of the rarest gems the galaxy could offer, made her feel highly optimistic and giddy all of a sudden. Or it was just her drink… who knows? "What would that be?"

"_We both occupy the same space at the exact same time." _the AI answered. _"And we are both sneaky." _

Kasumi couldn't contain herself anymore. She didn't know if it was the first answer said in a little girl voice, or the crafty sounding voice used in the second one.

No matter the answer, Kasumi quickly placed her other hand over the top of the small glass in her hand so that it wouldn't spill as she practically started falling over in laughter on the couch.

She had to go and see if her and Plague were back in speaking terms. How else would she thank him?

"What do I call you?" Kasumi asked once she calmed down.

"_I…" _it started o say, but went quiet for a moment before continuing._ "… I don't have a name."_

There goes her smile. "Hold on. What?"

"_I was never given a name…," _the AI repeated sadly.

"I guess we will have to fix that." Kasumi replied in a thoughtful tone. "Just give me a while. Something will come to me."

**Plague POV**

"And that is how I got over my fear of deathclaws." Plague announced loudly to the turian walking next to him as he entered the elevator to get to the CIC.

He had spent an hour since the last mission checking the gear delivered back to his room. Thankfully nothing was missing, although the mini nukes were placed in large containers with a flashing biohazard sign on them.

Why would they put them in there? Fuck if he knew.

"What are you talking about?" Garrus asked him as he selected the crew deck, while looking at Plague as if he was insane. Well… even more insane. "You just stepped in and said "And that is I got over my fear of deathclaws." And what by the spirits is a deathclaw?"

"Did I?" he asked as he tilted his head. "Could have sworn I was just talking to you." he then did a dismissive shrug and stood there calmly as he waited for the elevator to reach it's destination. Of looking over and seeing Garrus giving him an expecting look, Plague answered the second question. "A deathclaw is a giant mutant that looks a little like a lizard on its hind legs with long curved horns, and has claws both long enough, and sharp enough, to be considered as steak knives sticking out of it's hands, that are capable of slicing through a foot of reinforced steel."

After that explanation, the rest of the time it took to get to the Crew Deck was quiet.

When the elevator made it to it's first stop, Garrus gave him a slight nod as he stepped out.

When Plague finally made it to the CIC, he looked around the area for the indigenous red head that stalks the environment for prey, using an energetic smile gifted to the specimen, and giving the ability to slip through defenses in order to find the right form of interrogation the wildlife of the Normandy would call an interview. Upon seeing the coast was clear, he strode out of the elevator and made a beeline to the cockpit.

He wanted to finally get a chance to speak with the pilot, who held his life in his hands every time he flew too close to an asteroid or planet.

Over the seat looking over the controls, Plague saw a black and white cap resting on the head of a man who was leaning in to give something his full attention.

If he looked to his left, he could see the holographic glowing blue sphere which was the ship's AI on top of a projector.

He didn't know if it could tell he was there, but to be honest, he didn't really care.

Back to the pilot.

He was considering going back to engineering, maybe talking to the quarion down there, since the man looked like there was something important he needed to concentrate on.

As he started to leave though, that train of thought just ran off the tracks when he heard a noise he was familiar with. The volume must have been turned down so those on the way to the cockpit, couldn't hear unless you happened to be right behind the pilot.

"Ahhhh! Ahhhh!" that was the sound of a woman, two women… more accurately, women in the middle of a "nocturnal activity." "Ahhhh! Yes!"

He wanted to turn around and head to the elevator, but once you hear something like that, and if you happen to be a healthy male, it made it hard for said individual to turn away. The moans acted as a magnet to anyone with a healthy libido and a sense of curiosity.

He felt his growing curiosity begin to slowly make him creep closer to the chair, and eventually peer over the seat.

Thankfully the man in the seat was courteous enough to not do what males usually do in this kind of situation.

The second thing he saw was a small holographic screen showing… wow.

The women happened to both be asari. And to 101's amazement, there were a few more woman on the screen as well.

The two asari, who were apparently both tied spread eagle on a large bed, were being dominated by two human women, and another asari, and were all using an assortment of implements to do so. Most of which you wouldn't normally even consider using for such a purpose in the first place.

"Uh… wow." Plague commented as he watched the scene after a few seconds. He said it quietly out of reflex. "Is… is that a… snow globe?"

Usually someone wouldn't be able to hear something so quiet, but apparently if you happen to be a pilot who happened to be watching some adult rated material when at a time where he would usually be flying a spacecraft, he would be on high alert.

"W… What the hell?" the man suddenly yelled in alarm as he jumped in his seat while a hand shot up and batted the screen away, thus turning it off. Or pausing it. Plague couldn't tell. "I swear, Shepard. It's not what it looks like! Someone's playing a prank on me, or something. It just popped up!" he loudly triad to defend himself before looking over his shoulder. "Wait… your not Shepard…" he realized and let out a sigh of relief before it dawned on him that there was an unknown individual standing behind his seat. "… Who are you?"

Plague let a small silence pass as if letting the man calm down. "I would shake your hand and introduce myself, but I am not sure where it has been up until this point." Plague went quiet again, the awkwardness of the situation both men found themselves in escalating slowly. "I am Plague. I have been on the Normandy for almost a few weeks now…"

"And you wanted to meet the man flying the ship…" Joker finished, calming down a little. "You that crazy one in engineering?"

"Do I look like a bald woman wearing only tattoos from the waist up?" he asked back.

"No… the other one we picked up on Omega way back that messes up my baby's security cameras." he clarified, seat now turned to look at Plague fully.

"That might be me." he answered as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I should probably leave you to your… work."

"Yeah. That would be appreciated." Joker said back and adjusted himself in the seat. "Busy stuff…"

"Right." it was quiet again until Plague started to back away. "See you around… I guess."

"Yeah… hey… about what you saw…" Joker began as he lowered the bill on his cap. "Let's… just pretend this…"

… didn't happen." Plague finished as he started to turn, both taking the silence as a sign to depart.

As he walked he could have sworn he heard the pilot mumble something about putting a bell on the man who had disturbed his piece and quiet.

**Kasumi Goto POV**

"What about, Isabella?" the thief asked the AI in her suit, as she sat on her bed to read. It was the name of the main character in the book. "Bella could be nice."

"_No. It sounds too… what's the word?… snooty."_ the AI replied. _"And the girl in the book is so dramatic." _

"You do know Bella means something like 'Beautiful woman' in Italian, right?" Kasumi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"_Why else would I say it's snooty?" _the AI repeated. _"Why are you reading that anyway?"_

"No reason." Kasumi answered as she put the book on the shelf. "Do you have a name in mind, or will I do all the work?"

The AI was quiet for a few seconds, as if using that time to contemplate the question, before answering. "_I know many names, but I honestly can't decide on what to pick."_

**Plague POV**

"You know this is unnecessary, right?" the turian in blue commented as they circled one another on a blue mat in the cargo hold. "Don't get me wrong. I like the occasional spar as much as the next guy."

"Not like there is anything else I can do on this ship." Plague complained. "And don't you dare say "Oh I'm sorry, but I have some calibrations." and then expect me to just walk away."

To be frank. Plague still had some pent up hostility bottled up since the last mission. He needed an outlet. Sure he could build something, or whatever, but one can only do so much before clawing his eyes out.

"I don't really see the point of this either…" a female, filtered voice agreed with the turian. Plague had managed to catch the quarian when she was done with her shift. "And what am I doing again?"

Plague sighed before looking to the purple shape at the corner of his eye. The girl was standing on the side of the mat with crossed arms, her facial expression hidden, but most likely conveying a confused look.

"You are the referee." he repeated as he looked back to Garrus. "Your job is to make sure it is a clean fight."

This caused the girl to look around the small space they took up. "Why not ask… EDI how to turn on the sterilization scrubbers? You cant honestly expect me to do that." she then shook her head a little once something popped up in her mind. "Not to mention you both would get sweaty."

Plague burst out laughing, and thus confusing the quarian further.

"Not what I meant…" he then shook his head a little before preparing himself again, hands outstretched and in a boxing position. A large majority of is gear was now within his room, and he had a good view of the elevator in case someone wanted to do a little "shopping." threw the cargo bay window. He wanted this to be fair. Would be a disadvantage to the turian if he was nearly triple his weight class.

"He means, he wants you to make sure the fight is fair, and that we don't go overboard." Garrus clarified. Upon seeing Plague's face he spoke. "I've been around humans long enough to catch the meaning of some of your sayings."

101 just gave him a nod before taking a small hop. Unlike the alien, Plague just had his jumpsuit and boots.

"Alright." Tali voiced. "I think I can do that. Even though what you are asking me to do is strange."

"Its not really that out of place, actually. Soldiers spar on turian ships all the time." Garrus piped in.

"When ever you want us to start, miss Zorah." Plague said as he watched the turian's form, committing every move to memory.

There was a second reason to this as well. Studying.

Other then humans, asari, and batarians, Plague had no real experience in fighting other alien species. This gave hims the opportunity to identify weak points without having to do so on the fly on the battlefield.

"Fine. Get ready…" Tali announced as she raised an arm. "… Go!" she started as the hand fell.

Garrus didn't just lunge like he had thought he would. Instead he continued circling. The blue, avian eyes focused squarely on the human before him.

Plague wasn't much different.

They both slowly started to gravitate towards one another as they continued to maintain eye contact.

Plague's heartbeat was starting to increase as the anticipation grew. They were close now, both awaiting the other's move. Soon the stalemate would have to be broken.

And when Garrus took another step, Plague saw an open…

"Rip his fucking face off!" yelled a loud voice on the side of the mat.

Instinctively, Plague's head turned to look for the source. That didn't sound like the quarian at all.

Unfortunately, Garrus didn't slip up like he did. He took advantage of the opportunity and sent out a jab that connected with Plague's temple.

The sudden impact drew Plague out of his momentary confusion, and he rolled his head back with the hit.

He didn't react fast enough, but he avoided most of the damage. The momentum he was in made his body spin once, and within that rotation, delivered a fist at the turians head.

Garrus didn't see it coming, and was hit just above his left mandible before sending an uppercut on a trajectory to hit Plague's chin.

101 threw his head back before it connected and sidestepped before the turian could react. He pulled his left arm back and was deflected to the side by the turian's other hand. Using the momentum again, Plague's right hand swung again, only this time Garrus back stepped.

Garrus then used that distance to his advantage. His long arms swung in a 1 2 jab, followed by a straight left. The first was dodged with a simple step to the right. The second was blocked. But the straight hit its target.

The talon clad fist smacked him in the forehead.

When Plague recovered he went on the offensive. Using his speed and slightly less bulk, Plague side stepped to Garrus's side and delivered a right hook that was blocked, while the left jabbed into his side. His right came back for redemption and smacked the other side when Garrus turned in response to the left jab.

Plague didn't expect the next boost in the turian's speed when he recovered.

Fist to the left side of his jaw. Right jab to the ribs, followed by a left to his stomach.

101 took a step back with his guard up so that he could recover from the assault. But what he saw made him take off the metaphorical gloves.

The turian was doing his variation of a smirk.

**Tali'Zorah** **POV**

'They are going to hurt themselves." Tali thought to herself as the two started circling again.

Garrus is fast. That she knew already. But to see her friend get hit so many times after the first punch was not a normal sight.

Although, not as strange a sight as the human woman standing next to her.

"Fuck him up!" the bald individual coerced.

When Tali fist saw the woman stand next to her to watch, she isolated the spot and focused on the fight. Being a quarian, she never saw any form of a lack of clothing. She could have sworn the only thing keeping the woman's breasts out of view, were straps of leather.

And they hardly did that.

"Um… Hello." Tali nervously tried to be friendly.

"Whatever." the woman acknowledged irritably without looking.

And that was how far the "conversation" went.

She was pulled back to the fight when 101 took three big hits from the slightly taller being.

What happened next shocked her and, no doubt, Garrus. The area around 101 was engulfed in light as ultiple objects were heard hitting the floor.

Tali had seen the human use his technology a few times on the ship, but it still caused her to gasp. She had asked Garrus and Shepard about it since she heard about how protective the man was towards his belongings.

The ability to manipulate atoms and add it to your own without altering the space around the individual. No matter how she approached the concept in her mind, it still made no sense.

Once the light was gone they saw Plague surrounded by, what can only be described as, a small arsenal.

Knives, hand guns, explosives. Surprisingly she didn't see his mechs.

"Lets try this again, shall we?"

Before Garrus could answer, 101 had already pounched him in the face, causing him to reel. He barely recovered fast enough to block a jab aimed to his left mandible, but he didn't see the other slipping past his defenses and hitting his stomach. The speed 101 was now using would have been said to be impossible, if it weren't for the proof before her eyes.

His speed had doubled and making his punches fast.

It was truly a moment were you would wonder if the hand was indead quicker then the eye.

Suddenly a fist connected with Garrus's face again, followed by an uppercut that almost lifted her friend off of the mat.

Garrus landed on the mat hard as he covered his face.

"Damnit!" he shouted, not in anger, but defeat.

"You alright, buddy?" 101 asked as his form calmed down and started walking over to his downed opponent.

"I… I'm good." the turian groaned as one hand left his face to grab the hand offered to him. "Almost had you…"

"Almost and definitely are two different concepts." the human commented as he patted Garrus on the shoulder. "Was fun."

Tali was a little surprised by the look on Plague's face. The smile he had given her when they met was there. How he was able to go from a fight to a friendly demeanor.

It was… strange.

"How did you do that?" Garrus asked as he popped his neck. The action making Tali cringe.

"Nothing is holding me down right now."

"So…" Garrus started in surprise as he looked over to the pile of objects on one side of the mat. "This whole time… you had a handicap…?"

"What?" Tali asked in shock.

"Yup." Plague answered shamelessly with a smile.

Garrus just shook his had as his hand moved to, what Tali thought was, a still sensitive area on his face.

The items started to light up again and vanish as Plague rubbed the back of his neck. "No hard feelings right?" he asked as his hand was offered.

"Yeah. We're good." Garuus shrugged as he reached out to give the man a handshake.

Before the two hands could make contact however, Plague pulled his hand back as if he had been shocked while his whole body stiffened.

The three… 'That woman is gone… Must have left when the fight ended.' …two saw the look of pain on the man's face as his breathing started to grow heavier while he cradled the arm with the other.

"Are you all…" Garrus began to ask and got interrupted.

"I… I'm sorry. I have… to go now." he said suddenly as he turned to walk quickly to the elevator.

"Wait… are you…" Tali was ignored as he brushed past her.

He didn't seem like he did it to be rude. Just seemed as if he were distracted.

**Elsewhere**

_She shivered as the night's cold air went over her form. Instinctively, she brought the unrestrained upper part of her arms, shoulder to elbow, as close to her sides as possible. _

_The days on this world were warm, not burning. The nights were cold, but far more beautiful then what she was used to. _

_The outline of the trees in her view in contrast with the moonlight. Well… moons… There were three as far as she could tell, but that didn't matter… as strange as that sounds. _

_She got over the shock the first night. She was more focused on the form sitting a few seats to her right. _

_She didn't know if the man was asleep with his helmet on. If he was awake, then this would be a short attempt. If he was asleep, then good for her if she worked quickly. _

_She felt the stinging in her wrist where she was trying to pull her hand out of the tightly wrapped wire. Thankfully the rest of the enclave were camping outside. Bad thing about that, was they could be just out of view, but right next to the opening. _

_She felt weak. The lack of nourishment made her attempts to pull her left petite, but callused hand out of it's restraint feel like an extreme effort. The feeling of the wire scraping the skin made her wince as she bit down on her lower lip._

_She could see fresh blood shimmer in the small amount of light provided to her on the back of her hand that sported a large scrape. _

'_Get the thumb out.' she egged herself on as the wire became close to the joint connecting to her thumb. _

_If she could get the wire to slip past that part of her hand, then getting the rest out would be easy. _

_She took another glance at the, hopefully sleeping, Enclave before suddenly quickly pulling her hand out of the wire loop. _

_The serge of pain that went from her hand and up her arm, made her teeth sink in deeper into her lip as she stifled a whimper. She was afraid to look at the condition of her hand, and hugged it close to her as she silently sobbed from the pain. _

'_Almost… Almost there…' she thought to herself as she tried to forget the pain flooding through her limb. _

_Once she was free she could search the man near her for a stimpack. _

_She looked to her right hand attached to her bad arm and looked for a better way to free it. Thankfully she found the twisted knot on the underside of the armrest and quickly started twisting the two strands of wire with her throbbing hand. Once it was free she let out a strained breath when the muscles in the arm were finally able to relax. _

_Now she had to free her feet._

_She looked over to the man again and saw he had shifted a little in his seat, most likely to get more comfortable. Thankfully this told her the bastard had been asleep like she had hoped. _

_When she started to lean forward she heard a sound from the opening and slammed her back into the seat and weaved part of her hands into the wire to make it look like she was still restrained as she bowed her head to pretend to be asleep. _

_She didn't dare to close her eyes, so she cracked the less swollen one open just in time to see an armored form walk past the opening in the aircraft. _

_Once he was out of view she let of a breath and quickly, but quietly, went back to find the knots holding her feet to the seat. _

_Once she found them it was easy to untie. _

_She stood up for the first time in what felt like weeks and grabbed onto the wall next to her for support when her legs started to wobble under her. _

_Finally she was free. She was free!_

_Her moment of joy was then replaced by anticipation as she looked back to the man still in his seat. _

_If she was going to survive, then she needed a weapon. And that plasma pistol on his hip looked like a nice candidate. Once she had it, she could hunt, eat, live. Soon her stomach will have something inside of it. _

_Shakily, she walked over to the man as quiet as she could and started to bend down so that she could reach for the weapon on his belt. It was close. So painstakingly close. She could practically taste the food she would be able to obtain with it._

_Her fingertips lightly grazed the weapon when a voice was heard that made her heart leap into her throat._

"_So close." the man before her said before ramming his helmeted head into her unprotected one. _

_She reeled and hit the metal surface behind her as the man's height enveloped her own as her left hand went up to the sore spot. She could feel the warm sticky liquid on her hand from where she was hit and glared at the man. _

_His weapon was now drawn and aiming right at her as he motioned for her to move deeper into the vertibird. _

"_You should have stayed in your seat and waited until the boss was tied of you, you little bitch." he said to her, making her realize this was the man she had bit in one of her first days in captivity. "Now I have a fucking excuse." _

"_Go fuck yourself." she seethed, earning a hit to the side of the head with the firearm's bulky barrel, making her fall to the side._

"_That's what you are for, bitch." he said. _

_His intentions became clear as a wave of hatred, horror, and disgust hit her. The man wanted to get back at her for what she did the other day. And apparently he got over the idea of the Courier finding her. _

_When she didn't get up, he grabbed onto her right arm in a tight grip that made her gasp in pain. If he wanted to, he could break the bones easily with his power armor. _

_He threw her further in, making her crumble to the floor from both the combination of pain, and the lack of energy. _

_When she looked back up she saw the man remove his helmet and drop it in a seat as he walked up to her. _

_Her heart was beating quickly in her chest as she used her left arm and her legs to push herself farther into the belly of the aircraft. If her mind wasn't as cloudy as it was do to the throbbing pain in her right arm, and the fear of what might happen to her, she would have realized she was going exactly where the man wanted her to go. _

_She could have sworn her heart stopped for a second when her back hit the wall. Upon turning her head she realized there was nowhere else to go. She looked back to the man who motioned his weapon for her to stand. _

_Her mind was working in overdrive as she saw nothing else she could do and started pulling herself up. _

_When she was on her feet, the man walked up to her and grabbed her by the neck as his other hand placed his weapon on the armrest next to them so that he could take advantage of her ripped clothing. _

_When his hand eagerly started to grope her right breast, she forced her eyes shut as her hands balled into fists, the action made her arm throb even more._

"_Look at me." he said to her. When she didn't do it, he started to tighten his grip on her neck as he repeated with a harsher tone. "I said look at me!" _

_The force on her windpipe made her start to struggle in his grasp as her eyes shot open. Her left hand tried to loosen his grip, but only made him tighten even more. _

_Giving in, she looked at the man with pure hatred, earning his grip to loosen slightly around her throat._

_She could see the lust in the scum's eyes as he continued to feel her up. _

_She didn't know what to do. She couldn't see any way out of the situation. Instinctively a woman would kick a man in the groin if put in a similar situation, but his power armor would absorb the impact. She would only succeed in breaking her foot. _

_If she were in a better condition she could out maneuver the man and snap his, now vulnerable, neck. _

_It was when she tried to avert her eyes away from the man that started to undue the restraints for the lower parts of his armor that she saw something. _

_The plasma pistol!_

_It was so close. It was still on the armrest next to them. She just needed to get to it. _

_She was suddenly getting choked again when the man noticed she wasn't looking at him. _

_When she heard a piece of armor fall to the ground, she forced herself to look as far away from the man's crotch as possible. It was then that she got an idea. _

_A disgusting idea that made her want to vomit. _

_But it was the only way she could think of to get the man to let go of her. _

_She swallowed her pride as she readied herself for her plan. _

"_I want it." she said quietly. _

_The man froze, either from confusion or something else she couldn't tell. _

"_What?" he asked as he came a little closer. _

_She could feel his vile breath on her face as she looked at him. _

"_I said I want it." she repeated a little louder. "I want to taste it."_

_The mere idea of even beginning to think about giving the man head sickened her beyond words. He looked into her eyes, that she forced to look seductive, and saw the smile on the perverts face. _

_She had heard stories about the few who had escaped situations like the one she was in. if you suddenly seem like you are going to willingly participate in your would be rapist's activities, then you could catch them off guard._

"_Fucking whore." he called her as he took a step back and let go of her neck. _

_She forced herself to show a coy smile as she sauntered to him seductively, swaying her hips a little more then usual as she started to lower herself onto her knees in front of him. She couldn't bare to see the manhood before her so she kept her eyes locked with the man as she reached up. She was thankful for the lack of lighting. _

_When she grasped his shaft she wanted to painfully twist it and rip it off if she had the strength to do so. A part of her made her smirk once she found out the worthless shit was a poor example compared to any other man. _

_Predictably, he threw his head back and let out a pleasured sound when she lightly tightened her grip. _

_That was the opportunity she needed. She forced her injured arm to lift and reach for the gun next to her and ignored the pain as she grabbed the weapon. _

"_Suck it." he ordered as he started to look back down at her. Once he saw the weapon aimed right at his manhood, his eyes widened in shock as the weapon powered up. _

"_Sure, sugar." she seethed right before she pulled the trigger right when her hand let go of him._

_A look of unimaginable pain appeared on the man's face in the second the plasma round illuminated the space. (For the sake of both me and my male readers, I will not describe what would happen to one's loins when shot with an intensely burning plasma bolt.) She took in her revenge with a broad smile on her face and shot him in the head, making his body fall back as his face was dissolved. It was worth the pain going through her arm from the recoil. (Perk: Black Widow) _

_She only had a few seconds to take in what had happened and quickly started searching the dead Enclave. The noise would no doubt attract the others. She had to work fast. Thankfully, she found what she was hoping for. _

_He had two stimpacks on him. _

_She put the weapon in her good hand while the weaker limb did it's best to hold onto both syringes. _

_Without hesitating, she put what energy she had left into a sprint. She needed to get away. _

_When she exited the downed aircraft, she was instantly shot at. She ducked and almost tripped as adrenalin started to kick in. _

_The survivor only had to make it into the brush. _

_A plasma bolt barely missed her head, making her able to temporarily feel the radioactive heat across her left cheek. _

_She tightly cradled the two syringes in her burning arm as if they were her only lifeline. _

_Her lungs felt like they were on fire. _

_As soon as she entered the tree line, she changed directions and went to the left. Fewer shots streaked past her, and when she suddenly turned again around a tree trunk, she heard a bolt strike and start to dissolve the wood. _

_She ran as if hell itself was after her, making her scrounge up small reserves of energy. _

_When a branch raked across the right side of her face, she paid it no mind as she turned again. _

_She didn't know how long she had been running, nor did she even care. _

_She was free._

**Plague POV**

Plague fell to the floor of the elevator in pain as what felt like electricity surged through him. The beeping from his pip-boy was going crazy in the small space.

Luckily, no one was in the elevator with him.

He gritted his teeth to silence himself as the doors opened to the Engineering Deck. Plague forced his eyes open and saw his hand dissolving again and slowly start working it's way up his arm.

His stomach clenched painfully as he fought to keep down what he had eaten earlier.

Every movement felt agonizingly painful.

Before he could collect himself and exit the space, the doors closed in front of him before his hand could cross the threshold. His brain felt like it was going to force its way out of his own skull, while his limbs felt like they were burning.

He watched painfully as his arm was ripped apart before his eyes. He thought his pip-boy was malfunctioning, or maybe it had been tampered with. Plague had no idea what it all could mean, and he couldn't go to someone for help, since they couldn't see his hand was being atomized. They would call him crazy.

Well… Crazier.

His ears were ringing, making him not notice the elevator doors opening. Next thing he knew, he felt two gentle hands rolling him on his back.

"Plague?" a familiar voice called. It cut through the pain and allowed him to focus. "Plague! Stay with me." the voice ordered as he felt one of those hands slap his cheek lightly, but at the same time franticly. "I need help over here!" the voice was sounding more panicked. "You'll be ok. Adam, stay with me!"

At this time his eyelids finally closed completely.

**Kasumi Goto POV**

"Adam!" she shouted as his eyes closed.

It took everything she had to drag him out of the elevator before it closed. Thankfully he must have left most of his things in his room or else he would have went back down. Even with the change in weight, she had trouble.

Kasumi didn't know what to do. When she first saw Plague on the floor when she called the lift, she had thought he was dead until he started shaking and gasping for air. The sight scared her, and made her make sure she wouldn't lose someone else she cared about.

"What's wrong?" Gardner asked as he rounded the corner, followed by a member of the crew who had been in the mess.

"He just came up in the elevator like this." she explained quickly as the two men kneeled down to examine Plague. "He was awake, but…"

"What is all the yelling about?" shouted an annoyed Miranda in her Australian accent before she turned the corner and saw the three crowding around the fourth on the floor.

Her eyes looked worried for a moment until she say who it was and showed an emotionless look.

Kasumi didn't particularly like the woman. It was not always like that. She thought the member of Cerberus was a little too bossy when Shepard was not around, and at the time she saw her as someone she could annoy a little. It wasn't until she had tried to remove Plague's pip-boy that she became wary of her.

"What happened?"

"He seams stable Ma'am. Out of it though." reported the man next to Gardner.

The woman's biotics activated, making Kasumi instinctively react. She drew a hidden handgun she had on the side of her left boot, and aimed it at Miranda, who didn't expect such a reaction. If she wanted to get to her friend, then she would have to go through her first. If Plague was on the ground then there could only be a few explanations, and they were all bouncing around in her head and settled on two. One: Plague was ill. Second: Someone somehow made him the way he was. And the operative rounding the corner at such a convenient time made Kasumi go for the latter.

"What are you doing, Miranda?" she asked accusingly, as she got up and stepped over Plague, placing her between him and the female biotic.

Miranda looked at her with a look of annoyance as she collected some biotic energy in her right hand.

"He needs to be looked at by Dr. Chakwas." she explained in an irritated tone. "I was going to take him to the sickbay."

Kasumi didn't buy the explanation, and made that clear by sending a glare at the woman who had to focus a little more to see it through both the hood, and cloth casting her face in a shadow. Only her eyes were visible. Just barely.

"You can't fool me, Lawson." she announced as she tensed. "More like you were going to "Score one for humanity."

That caused Miranda to return the glare aimed at her. "Step aside, Goto." she ordered as her biotic aura became more visible.

The hall became quiet as the two awake men started to back away from the oncoming conflict between the two women.

"Now calm down you two." Gardner started as he tried to become the mediator. "Lets all relax and get the man to the sickbay."

"She is not going anywhere near him!" Kasumi growled, making Gardner back up even more.

It wasn't until the elevator doors opened to reveal another human, that the mood in the space changed.

"What the fuck are you doing, Cheerleader?" Jack asked hatefully when she saw Kasumi standing between Miranda and an unconscious Plague, and picked a side.

Her biotics flared as she stepped out of the elevator, bathing the walls with a blue light.

"This does not concern you." Miranda stated as Kasumi saw her biotics activate even more as if in an attempt to compensate for the second female biotic standing next to the thief.

Normally Kasumi would be a little concerned when packed into a small space with the bold woman, but right now she couldn't have asked for anyone better. At the moment they both had a friend in need. Maybe not a "friend" to Jack in the same sense of the word, but a friend none the less.

Jack gave her a hate filled glare and started cracking her knuckles before she replied. "Oh, I think it does, Bitch."

**Taylor Shepard POV **

"What?" Shepard almost shouted on her way to the elevator from her cabin.

"Cat fight heating up on Deck two." Joker repeated in both a panicked, and amused voice. "Miranda vs. Jack and Kasumi, right in front of the elevator."

"Shit!" she shouted to herself.

Jack and Miranda fighting actually made sense, but why the hell was Kasumi involved?

The slow snail's pace of the elevator fed her anxiety. Each second was more time for people to get in the way of the fight and get caught in the crossfire.

The quiet within the elevator was demolished once the door finally opened while she was welcomed by shouting.

"Stand down!" Miranda ordered angrily until Shepard stepped out of the elevator.

She looked to her left and saw Jack and Kasumi standing side by side defiantly as if they had the same purpose. Jack's eyes were filled with hate and anticipation, while Kasumi was calm and at the same time looked worried. For what, Shepard didn't know until she noticed a man on the ground behind them.

Why Kasumi was involved became perfectly clear to her. Her friend was down and the woman who had tried to take advantage of Plague's vulnerability in the past was to Shepard's right.

"Yes, Miranda. Stand Down!" she ordered as she looked to her. "What happened?"

Miranda's biotics dwindled a little and then went back to full strange only to suddenly deactivate when Shepard pulsed with her own.

After composing herself she answered, but still sounded quite annoyed. "Something is wrong with 101, and I was going to provide some assistance. Carrying him with biotics would reduce the amount of wasted time he could have been receiving help."

"Bullshit, Cheerleader!" Jack yelled as she pointed an accusing finger at the woman.

"I second that statement." Kasumi agreed, drawing Shepard's attention to her.

She had not even noticed the thief's new wardrobe.

It was an outfit that looked a little more armored then her last one, while the material looked quite familiar to her.

It was when she was thinking of how it looked like a form of latex that her eyes widened in realization.

Plague had made her a suit.

That was… unexpected.

"Between me, Jack, and Kasumi, I think we can handle getting him to the sickbay." she spoke as her biotics glowed again. Her eyes were focused on the woman, giving a silent massage for Miranda to try something. "Do you have a problem with that?"

* * *

><p><strong>Don't put too much thought into the Black Widow perk thing. Where else would a put it in? <strong>

**Anyway the question I have for this chapter is rather simple. Now that you all know who the AI is, I was hoping you guys could help me out with something. What the hell do I name her? I am terrible with names so I am asking you all for help. I want a name that would suit (No pun intended.)** **her. So please send in your suggestions and I will pick the one that a like the most. **

**And whole else here can't wait for Mass Effect 3? The demo kicks ass. If anyone wants to send me a massage, my gamertag is Matalvisdrake on xbox live. Feel free to tell me what you think of the Wildcard, or ask questions. I will say this now, I will not blindly accept friend requests. I only do that if i happen to know the person. Saves me the trouble of trying to remember who is who.**

**Anyway, see you all next time. **


	20. Chapter 20 Back Then

**OMG… 20****th**** CHAPTER! **

**Honestly this went a lot farther then I thought it would. I thought I would run out of steam and run myself into a corner by now. **

**I just want to say I am thankful for all of your reviews, and thanks to all of you who have been following this since the beginning.**

**Before we start the twentieth chapter, I would like to give a shout out to another writer. I don't do this often, so here it goes. In my search for good self inserts, I came across a story called The Stranger From the Sky, a Final Fantasy VII self insert written by acebrainbuster. **

**When I wrote him a review saying for him to keep it up, I didn't know at the time that he has been a subscriber to this story along with the rest of you. (While we are on the topic, is there a way to see how many people follow a story?) His story so far kicks so much ass, and has a lot of things a good self insert should have. One of those being an original idea that could spawn into something bigger in time. **

**I, as a SI fan, recommend people to check it out if you are a Final Fantasy fan. So far he is at 32 chapters. A number of chapters I hope this story will also contain, and hopefully surpass. **

**Keep writing man. **

**I am not Commander Shepard, and that is one of my favorite stories on this website. **

* * *

><p><strong>The Wildcard<strong>

**Chapter 20**

("Sometimes, when I look back, I wander." Plague said to himself at the campfire, hunting rifle in his hands. Wooden stock felt cold to the touch thanks to the air. The three girls he saved from that pharmacy were sleeping closely together with all the articles of fabric he had stored in his pip-boy acting as a blanket on the other side of the fire. It was too dangerous to take them to the Galaxy News Radio station. That meant he had to get them out of the DC ruins as fast as possible. Now that they were out of the city, the closest haven he knew of was Megaton. "What would have happened if I was born outside of a vault? What would happen if I wasn't even born at all?"

He looked at the three sleeping children as he let out a sigh.

Now that he got the chance to see them with some more light, he saw that two had the same brown hair, while the third had a dirty blond. The youngest was Beth, at eleven. Brunet number one. She was a shy little girl. He saved them yesterday and, as far as he could tell, only whispers to the other girls since, apparently, they were all siblings.

He didn't know if she was always like that, or if she was simply afraid of him. He couldn't blame her. Especially after what they had all been through.

Becky was the second oldest and was twelve. The blond one. She was the strongest one among the trio. She was protective and always held onto one of the other's when ever one was in arms length. The blond had eyes on him at all times. The first night they were with him, she just sat there while the other two slept, and watched him.

Maybe she was trying to catch him off guard when he went to sleep. That was made clear when he pretended to dose off in a sitting position against a rock. A few minutes later his eyes snapped open to see she was trying to take his hunting rifle out of his iron grip.

He was not mad at her when he atomized the weapon, to her shock, and lead the angry girl back to the bundle of fabric he had made for her sisters. Becky only wanted to eliminate all threats to her family. She had been the one who killed one of her captors with his shotgun.

If it had more then one shell in it, he would not be surprised if she shot him next.

He out waited her this time, and she collapsed when it was late enough. Maybe if he didn't have a pip-boy pumping caffeine into his bloodstream while he kept a lookout she would have had a chance.

Samantha was the oldest at thirteen. And was unfortunately, the one he was too late to save.

She hardly moved on her own without Becky holding her hand. The first thing he did after getting those collars off, was throw a trashcan into the window of an old store that used to sell clothing.

The three just stood there at the front of the store as he dropped armfuls of children's clothing and shoes at their exposed feet. He didn't have much to go on, so he grabbed everything he saw that looked even remotely their size.

101 had went outside to give them some privacy, and almost fifteen minutes later they walked out.

Beth wore a little blue dress along with a pair of black shorts with a small smile on her face. Becky dressed with her surroundings in mind, and apparently went into the boys section in order to get both a shirt and pants with grey and brown camouflage.

Beth must have dressed Samantha herself. He guessed that since she wore almost the exact same thing. Only difference was shorts instead of pants.

He heard Beth whine earlier. Which was why they all didn't match.

Becky made them wear black boots to protect their feet.

He wanted to fully examine them to see if they had any injuries. Becky wouldn't let him go anywhere near her sisters, so he resorted to using a stealth boy to check on them as they changed.

The idea of spying on children as they changed was not at all appealing to him. If it wasn't for the worry for the health of the girls, he would have punched himself for even beginning to think of doing it.

Beth was in the best condition with only a small bruise on her left shoulder from some one grabbing her too hard. Becky had a medium sized bruise on her stomach and another on her right side.

Samantha's was the worst to watch.

Her back and front were covered in bruises. They had beaten her regularly.

Becky had told him they were being taken to other slavers and hardly did anything worse then hit them. Samantha was the protective one at the time, and did everything she could to act as a lightening rod to protect them from the beatings.

The bastards made sure all the damage inflicted on the girls wouldn't be seen when covered by clothing. Thy couldn't offered for the "merchandise" to appear damaged.

What she told him next almost made him sick as his hands turned to fists.

The night before he got to them, Samantha had injured one of the slavers when Beth was going to be dragged away. She kicked one of them in the groin.

Next thing they knew, Samantha was being stripped down and raped right in front of them.

The first time he placed a hand on the older sibling's shoulder before he could remove her collar, she pulled away and started screaming for him to go away as she cried. In her eyes he, and every other man in the world, was a monster. She would only calm down when Becky or Beth held her.

When they stepped out of the store, 101 almost couldn't hide the feelings running through him. A small smile was forced onto his face as he complimented Beth's dress, making her blush and run behind the closest thing she could use as cover… Her sisters.

They were all afraid of him, but Beth was the one who always had a hint of curiosity when ever she looked at him.

He gave them what little food he had and watched as they devoured it as if they hadn't eaten in days.

Even then, they still didn't trust him. Becky asked why they should go with him when he said they should.

His answer was to simply point a finger in the direction of the pharmacy where he had liberated them. That made the girl go quiet as she looked at the ground after glancing at the other girls. The oldest was unable to voice her opinion, while the youngest was too busy playing with the dress she wore.

After a long silence of him leading them through the safest route he could find, he asked if they had any family. The slavers took them five days ago. Before they were captured, they were traveling from a small settlement north of the DC ruins. They were with their father and grandfather who traveled with a trading caravan on its way to another settlement, where their mother was. Some place near Megaton.

The caravan was attacked by raiders at night while they set up camp. Their father and grandpa were gunned down along with the traders. The only reason they got away was thanks to a female bodyguard who told them to run as she covered them.

After hiding in a, thankfully unoccupied, mole rat hole they found for the rest of the night, they walked the next morning aimlessly and thought it was a good idea to head towards the ruins where they were captured by the three slavers.

The vault dweller had no idea how to act around children. The closest he could think of was when he was their age.

And not much of that helped the situation.)

**Kasumi Goto POV**

"_He will be okay, Kasumi." _the AI in her suit reassured.

Kasumi didn't respond as she sat next to the bed in the sickbay. She had been there since they carried him in a few hours ago. Jack had been in the room for a few minutes until Kasumi convinced her that someone needed to make sure no one took anything from Plague's room.

She sat there and messed with her hands impatiently while the man slept.

Mordin was called down to assist Chakwas in trying to find out what was wrong, and came up with nothing. His condition looked normal, but something had to be wrong.

Garrus and Tali came to the sickbay and said they saw him a few minutes before Kasumi found him.

Something has to be wrong.

Chakwas had to downgrade a little and used old fashion heart monitoring methods. The last time Plague had to be taken care of, the doctor informed them that the man had a mechanical heart. So could the problem be technical?

No.

She knew Plague long enough to know he would notice something like that.

**Plague POV**

("Come on."101encouraged: as he reached his hand down to help Becky climb a small eight foot high cliff wall to get out of the small canyon their route put them in.

Beth was already up with him. Now he just needed to get the other two up.

"Jump, Becky!" Beth yelled excitedly as she cheered her sister on.

A smile started to form as he finally managed to grab Becky's hand and quickly pull her up.

The blond wasted no time as she turned around and reached down to the oldest girl.

"Sam. Grab my hand."

The girl just looked up at them in that daze she was still in. Those empty eyes made 101's jaw clench and his eyes sadden. Three days and no change in the girl's mental state.

"Sam?" Becky said when the girl hesitated.

Hearing her name again, Samantha stepped forward and reached up. With her being taller then her sisters, she didn't have as much trouble grabbing the hand reaching down to her.

101 lowered his hand as well and grabbed her other hand, only for Samantha to freak out and go back down. He had a feeling that if her sisters were not with him, she would have ran away at that moment.

"I'm going to need you to go back down and try to keep her calm." 101 explained after a sigh as he sat on the ledge.

"What are you going to do?" Becky asked as she got ready to climb down.

"Just trust me." 101 said as he lowered her down.

Once her feet hit the ground, the vault dweller dropped down, after telling Beth to stay. When he looked up, he saw the girl looking down at him with a questioning look.

Samantha tried to back away from him again, but Becky held her in place.

He wished he could kill those slavers all over again for what they did to her.

101 put his hands together and had his back to the cliff wall as he braced himself.

It took a while for Becky to convince her older sister to accept his help. When she finally stepped on his hands, 101 wasted no time and lifted her to the top of the wall before she could change her mind.

Becky went up the same way, and 101 was about to start climbing as well until he heard a scream above him.

His eyes widened in terror and anger as his hands moved faster to find handholds.

"Beth?" he shouted as he climbed. The girl didn't answer, but he could hear crying and Becky panicking.

Only one of his shoulders were over the ledge when he pulled out his pistol and aimed. He heard the sounds of buzzing before he saw the small baseball sized insect flying around. Beth was on her side holding her arm whimpering loudly, while Becky grabbed a stick and started to try and hit it out of the air. Samantha was on her knees trying to calm down the youngest girl, but clearly didn't know what to do.

It was the first thing he saw her do without one of her sisters having to help.

Adrenalin was pumped into his system as he aimed and fired. The bloatfly went down, and the small amount of dust it kicked up when it hit the ground, didn't even settle before Becky started hitting it with her stick hatefully.

101 finally got up and ran straight to the small girl and kneeled down to look at the arm.

"I… I… it… hurts!" Beth wailed, making 101 momentarily deaf before he pulled her hand off of the injury.

"Everything will be ok." he soothed as he looked at the large stinger in the center of where a bump started to swell.

Like every other stinger a bloatfly could shoot out of that stubby, fat excuse for a tail, the stinger was slightly barbed. No wonder the girl was crying her eyes out. And that was without the toxin it injects as well. Not poisonous, but made to cause as much pain as possible when it came in contact with a nerve. If he could get it out before the toxin spread, then he could save the girl a lot of pain. Hopefully she wasn't allergic to the damn things as well.

"Don't touch it!" she screamed before he could pull the stinger out.

"Calm down. I have to…" he didn't get that far before the girl wailed again for him to not touch anything. "Beth." he said sweetly as he looked into her teary eyes. "I need you to be a big girl and close your eyes and count to ten for me. Alright?"

"W… why?" she asked warily as she tried to look into his brain and find out what he was going to do.

"Nothing, I swear."

He looked next to him to see the girl's two sisters watching him. Becky with her stick, and Samantha with her blank stare that barely showed the smallest hint of worry.

"Now, count."

"Okay…" Beth mumbled with her eyes shut and her brow scrunching up. She looked as if she had just bitten into something sour. "One…" tears started welling up and just barely made it past her eyelids in anticipation. "Two…" she became stiff. "Three… Four… Fi… AHHHH!"

And that is when the barbed stinger, as large as a three inch nail, was pulled out.)

**Taylor Shepard POV **

"For the fifth time, Shepard, I was only trying to help." Miranda repeated, sounding even more annoyed then when Shepard walked into her office.

"And you are sure you have no idea why Plague would collapse in the elevator?" Shepard asked again while in the seat on the other side of Miranda's desk. The question was beginning to annoy her just as much as it did the operative.

"I told you all ready, Shepard." she reminded as she looked at her right in the eyes. "I had nothing to do with what happened to, 101. I was just as surprised as everyone else there. Only difference is, I was the first biotic to arrive."

"You and I both know what Cerberus would gain if the situation were under TIM's control." Shepard reminded as she rubbed her temples. "I had him open up a little to your organization, and he still gets dirty looks from certain members of the crew." she then looked back to the other woman with a small glare. She didn't know it, but her eyes still gave off a small bluish glow that somehow made the glare look more threatening then what it really was. "Including you."

"I will not lie and say his disclosure pertaining to that device of his provided much information on how we could replicate it." she confessed. "But that does not mean I am out to get him. My standing with 101 can be described as fragile at best. To try and capture him now would be counterproductive."

Shepard could almost see where she was going at with this. At the moment, Miranda and Cerberus saw Plague as a tool. She had a feeling that once this whole deal with the Collectors was over, they would be after the man again like a swarm.

"That is all." Shepard announced as she got out of the chair and started walking to the door.

Before she made it out of the room, she was hailed by the woman.

"Shepard." Miranda called quietly, maybe not wanting to be heard by those in the galley. Shepard looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. Miranda's face looked like she was uncomfortable with what she was about to say. "I hope his doesn't effect our plans on Illium?" she voiced the sentence as if it were a question.

Shepard's eyes widened a little at what the operative must have been thinking and felt something grip her heart before answering.

"Even if you were to suddenly kill over, I can't ignore a young woman who may be in danger once the situation has been given my attention." she said reassuringly and could almost hear the sigh of relief leaving Miranda. "Three days, and we meet up with your contact, yes?"

She could have sworn she saw the beginning of a smile before it was swept away and replaced by a mix between a calculative, and a strictly business expression.

"Father's snooping is becoming more and more apparent, but we have some time on our side."

"Good to hear." she said before turning to leave again.

"Thank you, Shepard." she heard Miranda say quietly before the door closed behind her.

**Plague POV**

("I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" Beth yelled childishly as she pounded on his chest with little fists that hardly did any damage.

He had removed the stinger, and treated the wound, but the child was still mad at him.

When he said they should move on, the girl turned away from him dramatically and ran to the side of a lightly laughing Becky. The sound was pleasant to his ears. It was the first time he heard the blond girl laugh.

That changed when she noticed him looking at her. She quickly went back to sending him small glares.

He chuckled as he atomized the remainder of the medical supplies he got out and turned to the three.

"We should get moving. If we hurry, we can find a nice place to camp out for the night.")

**Kasumi Goto POV**

"How is he doing?" someone asked from the door, interrupting Kasumi's thoughts.

She looked up to see Shepard walking into the sickbay, and stand next to the chair the hooded woman had been sitting in for the last four hours.

"Whatever is wrong with him, it seams to be out of his system now." she answered tiredly. She was hungry as well, but she didn't want to leave the man's side. Something made her want to be there when Plague wakes up.

"Good to hear." Shepard said as she leaned in a little, and lightly tapped on the screen of Plague's pip-boy before pulling back to her standing position. "Any chance he has on/off switch in that thing?"

That made Kasumi laugh a little before going quiet for a few seconds.

"Wish all men were like that." she voiced jokingly. "Would give a whole new meaning to turning someone on. Would boast a lot of egos as well."

This time, they both laughed. Once it died down, an awkward silence filled the air before Kasumi's curiosity got the better of her… Not the turn on part.

That would bring up a lot of awkward questions if Plague woke up while someone peaked under the sheet covering him.

That thought made her grey-box go back to the man's first day on the ship without telling it to. And she quickly pushed the image that popped up out of her mind. It was when he was about to be examined by Chakwas, while wearing that formfitting blue shirt and shorts he wore underneath.

The thief didn't even understand why the image was brought up until she looked down to his…

'Enough of that!' she shouted in her head as she felt heat going to her cheeks. 'Wow, though… Just, wow… No…. No no no. Bad, Kasumi!'

She didn't even remember glancing down like that!

Kasumi quickly chalked that up to one of those things you don't think about until someone says something about it.

She grabbed the man's arm and focused on the little green screen before the image of his covered… 'Damnit!' with that image in her mind again, she turned one of the knobs experimentally.

The display and controls looked so old to her. She felt like she was playing with an antique. When the knob clicked loudly she jumped, and instantly felt a sense of panic start to set in before she realized she had just turned on the screen.

It now gave off a light green glow that illuminated her face under the hood.

"You know I was joking, right?" Shepard asked as she watched over her shoulder.

Kasumi didn't laugh, but she did smile at those words.

"I just realized, I have never really looked at his thing before." she confessed as she found out that the selection screen moved in pages.

Right now she was on a page labeled Misc, and read a list of small objects she could scroll through. Nothing really exciting was there, sadly. Just bullet casings, old duck tape, old weapon mods, syringes, a book… Wait, what?

"Why does he have empty syringes in this thing?" she asked aloud.

"Not a stim addict, is he?" Shepard asked back with a slightly wary tone. That was almost exactly what was going through her head until Shepard offered an explanation. "He doubles as a field medic, remember?"

Kasumi let out a sigh of relief before moving to the next page.

This one was labeled, Aid. She quickly identified the words Medi-gel. He must have atomized some for just in case.

Next she saw the word, stampack. She didn't know what that was.

There were other things as well, but she didn't think it would be a good idea, going through the mans belongings.

The next page was, Apparel. And the first thing she saw was an image of his stealth suit.

Everything else she saw on that list was either a small piece of clothing, are a piece of armor. None of them looked anything like something she would see in this time and age. She then saw his old suit he wore on their outing.

She took that as a sign to move on and went to the next page labeled, Status.

Before she could examine the images that appeared, a voice was heard that made her freeze.

"Not polite to go through someone else's things, Miss Goto."

**Plague POV**

("Stay here." 101 whispered to the girls standing closely against the large piece of wall next to them.

It was dark out, and he managed to avoid any other dangers. He now found himself a little west of the DC ruins, and approaching the same supermarket he cleared out his first few months out of the vault. Even though he killed the last raiding occupants, there was no way of knowing if anything moved in.

He wanted to avoid the building and work his way around, but he was half a days walk to Megaton, and wanted to see if he could find anymore food.

Sure he could go a few days with little food, but to be so young and hungry in the waists were dangerous. In the small time he had been with the girls, 101 started to develop something he didn't know he could.

He wanted to help them, protect them, almost as if they were his own daughters.

The thought was strange to him.

He never once thought of the possibility of fathering a child. If he still lived in the vault, he might have eventually started something with Amata. He remembered when they were younger. When they were kids. He was ten at the time, while Amata was seven. Just a few days after his tenth birthday.

Back then, neither understood anything involving a relationship between a man and a woman. At the time they were just close friends. He remembered when she spent the night with him and his father. Her parents were arguing, and her mother asked if Amata could stay with them for a night so she wouldn't hear the ensuing shouts and yells.

Amata slept in his bed, while he took the floor. The conversation they had was still fresh in his mind, even know.

"Adam?" she asked in the dark room, the only light being a small dimly glowing lamp his father got him when he was smaller.

"What…?" he responded sleepily as he curled up in the blanket. He thought that if he covered his head, then somehow Amata would magically go back to sleep.

"I'm sorry…" she said sadly from his bed. He could hear her moving around, but didn't think the investigation was worth the effort.

"What… for…?" he asked, his words barely sounding understandable.

"For making you sleep on the floor." she clarified.

"I don't care… where I sleep…"

"No. I should have found a way for mom and dad to stop fighting." she said quietly as he heard movement again. "I think… it's my fault… anyway."

"How is it you fault?" he asked in surprise, her words waking him up just enough to make him think clearer.

"Dad thinks I should be taught in my room, and not with you guys in class." she explained sadly. That made Adam sit up on the floor to see Amata laying on her side to look at him from the bed. "Mom thinks he is being overprotective, and wants me to stay."

"He can't take you out of class." Adam stated as he looked into her eyes. The small amount of blue light from the lamp made them sparkle in a way he had not seen them before. He didn't know why, but his breathing hitched. "Everyone else in class is an idiot. No one else in there even reads comic books!"

She smiled at his small outburst and giggled a little. He always made her laugh, and he loved to hear the sound.

"I don't read those, remember?" she reminded him as she sat up with her legs crossed on the bed.

"I know you don't, that's why I like telling you about it."

She looked down a little before replying. "If that's the case, then why couldn't you tell the others?"

"But I want to tell you about it!" he said dramatically with his hands in the air for effect. "Why does your dad want to take you out anyway?" he asked as he got up and abandoned trying to sleep to sit next to her.

"He thinks some of the kids will be mean to me for being the Overseer's daughter." she said jokingly. But Adam could hear the sadness in her words.

"Is anyone mean to you?" he asked in a worried voice.

She looked up at his face and smiled warmly at how protective he was of her.

"No. He just thinks some one might start."

"That's stupid." Adam said bluntly as he turned on the light on his pip-boy, the green glow illuminating Amata more. "No one is dumb enough to start picking on you." he said in his happy sounding tone as his arm wrapped around her shoulder to put her in a small hug.

"Why is that?" she asked him a little nervously when he touched her.

"Because I'll punch them."

She giggled a little at what he said before leaning into him a little bit. The silence was a little awkward, but it was tolerable.

Amata was the one to break the silence. "Why are we friends?" she asked him as her eyes looked into his.

Adam slightly froze on the spot. He never really thought about it. Amata was just, there. He knew her his entire life. Almost not a day went by that he didn't see her, either in the halls, or in class.

That was until that cootie outbreak broke out. He didn't know anything about it, but he still practically dragged Amata to see his father, and begged for him to get rid of them so he could still play with her.

He couldn't believe his own father laughed when he told him about the epidemic. He laughed!

What kind of doctor laughs when someone says the girls are infected with the cooties?

When he stopped laughing, he told them the cure to cooties was water. At first he was a little skeptical, but two minutes later, Amata and himself were drinking class after glass after glass, until they both fought over who would be first to use the bathroom.

After that little fiasco, he continued to see her every day and they actually held hands to class some days.

They were practically inseparable.

He looked back at her and just shrugged. "I don't know. I just want to play with you."

He almost couldn't tell, but she started blushing a little as she looked away from him.

"Amata?" he asked as he shook her a little to get her attention. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" she answered hesitantly. "Adam… Are you my… boyfriend?" that sudden question made him jump a little before looking back at her with wide eyes. He must have looked a little funny, because she giggled again before suddenly hugging him. "Can you… be my boyfriend?"

He didn't know what to say to that, but he found himself hugging her back before he whispered in her ear.

"Do… you want to be… my… girlfriend?"

She looked up at him for a long moment before she quickly gave him a kiss and pulled away.

The action left him breathless, even though the small contact only lasted two seconds. His mouth opened, and closed dumbly as he stared off into space. People have kissed him before, like his father would some times give him a small kiss on the forehead before messing with his hair, before sending him off to his first day of class. But this was different.

Amata had kissed him on the lips!

His brain strained to process the overload, but he just sat there with that dumb look on his face.

Amata giggled at him again and gave him another hug. He almost didn't hear her whisper a goodnight before she went back under the covers and rested her head on his pillow.

He didn't know how long he sat there, but eventually he went back to the mess of blankets on the floor and closed his eyes with the memory of Amata and his first kiss.

101 lightly laughed at the memory. Having almost a perfect memory made the images appear clearly in his mind. When he told Amata about what she said when they got older, she said he was just messing with her. She didn't remember that night, but he did.

He protected her like he said he would as they grew up together. Anyone who wanted to be rude, or try to pick on her for being the Overseer's daughter eventually met his fist. He got in a lot of fights over the years.

His father was disappointed in him every time 101 came home with a bloody nose, or someone else's blood on his shirt. But he always knew, deep down. That his father was not mad at him for defending someone else, but for not being able to find a more peaceful solution. He never regretted defending her.

Sadly, even after all of his efforts to protect her, after all of the time they spent together, Amata started to see him as a brother figure. Sure he was devastated when he realized this, but if he confronted her with how he felt, he was afraid she would start to avoid him. So he spent the rest of his years in the vault as her close friend. He wouldn't let anyone or anything hurt her.

He was happy to just be with her, even though she had long forgotten the small crush she had on him that started his own feelings for her.

Then that day came, when his life went to hell. He didn't know what to do. Janos, a man who was practically his uncle, was beaten to death by the guards who were supposed to protect them. Protect everyone! The Overseer was causing so much chaos, just because he lost control of his little world. And then he wanted to kill Adam just for being the son of a man he saw as a threat.

Riots started, people were gunned down, neighbors who welcomed him with a smile the day before, looked at him with disgust yelling that he was the cause of the madness.

Soon, he met up with Amata. She was forced to sit in a chair as her own father loudly interrogated her. She wouldn't tell him where he was, and 101's blood boiled when her father ordered Mack to hit her to try and get her to talk.

Something inside of him just snapped. He opened the door and walked in with the pistol he refused to even hold up until that point. Without hesitation, he aimed and shot Mack in the back.

It was the first time he had killed another human being, and he knew he didn't have long until he would realize what he had just done.

Amata's father looked at him in shock, and didn't even get to form a word before a bullet hit him in the head.

When the old man hit the floor, the first thing to pop into his mind as adrenalin, both natural and synthetic, pumped through his veins was Amata.

He dropped the gun and ran over to the woman and wrapped his arms around her, only for him to be pushed away by the same woman he secretly loved his whole life.

When he saw her face, some part of him thought she should have been smiling at him, returning the hug. Even maybe, finally returning his feeling. He had just saved her from a man who caused such chaos.

But what he saw was the polar opposite. What looked at him were not eyes full of gratitude, of love. Just fear.

She looked at him with teary eyes that looked as if they couldn't believe what they just saw.

"Adam… you… killed them…" she said shakily with both sadness and fear.

Those words snapped him out of his small delusion, and he turned to see what he had just done.

Two, still warm, bodies rested on the cold metal floor. Both with a bullet in them. Bullets from the gun he had held in HIS own hand that now rested on the floor where he dropped it.

His mind was blank.

He didn't know what to do. His father always told him to try and avoid conflict, but he did much worse. Adam slowly looked back to Amata, who was still frozen in the chair. He felt fresh tears replace the ones he shed when he saw Jonas's body.

"Amata… Please…." he barely managed to whisper. "What… do I… do? I… I don't… know what to do."

They stayed motionless for what felt like for ever. Neither of them moved until shouting was heard down the hall.

He didn't move, as if he thought doing so would hurt some one else. Hurt Amata even more.

He couldn't believe it when a hand grabbed his, and he was lead out of the room.

Amata pushed away the tears, but she looked like she would collapse any second. But she pushed on and closed the door to the Overseer's office behind them and locked it. She went over to the terminal while holding in whimpers and managed to find the password to the stair case under the desk in the room.

Something about the password made her fall to her knees and cry even harder.

Adam, in his daze was drawn to the sounds of her crying and looked at the terminal she had been working on.

When he read the password, he wished he still had that pistol in his hand so that he could shoot himself for what he did.

Even after all the arguments with his daughter, after all the madness, he still used his daughter's name as the password.

He wanted to do something. He wanted the tears to stop flowing from Amata's reddening eyes.

Adam started to go on his knees so he could hold her close to him in an attempt to soothe the pain, but again, she pushed him away.

He almost fell on the floor, but Amata grabbed his hand and pulled him up to his feet to lead him down those stairs he would remember for the rest of his life.

They entered the room that held the vault door. The door that kept the outside world away from them. The door his father went through.

She went to the terminal and almost instantly, the large mechanisms keeping the door closed moved with a loud groan from not being used for so long.

He watched the large parts move slowly before them and before the outside air could come in, he felt arms wrap around him.

This shocked him until he looked down and saw the last person still in the vault that he loved. She was crying into his chest loudly, and he could already feel the wetness from her tears soaking through his jumpsuit.

His arms wrapped around her, one arm around her waist while his other hand started going through her hair.

He had always wanted to hold her like this, but hated how it took all of these disasters in they're lives for it to happen.

His arms held her tightly as hers tightened around him.

When the machines went quiet, neither of them wanted to let go as if the other would vanish.

Adam's mind started working again and he did the one thing he was afraid to do all those years. He cupped her small chin and slowly had her look at him with those eyes he always loved to look into. He saw that beautiful face he always wanted to feel. And finally, he saw those lips he had always wanted to kiss.

He pressed his lips against hers, and felt her stiffen in shock before she slowly started to return it hesitantly.

Adam could tell she still didn't see him the same way he saw her, but he mentally thanked her for at least letting him be with her like this for just once.

He didn't want the moment to end, and continued until his lungs started to scream for air. When he couldn't take it any more, he pulled away breathing heavily and saw she was doing the same and was now blushing a cute pink.

"Adam… I…" she didn't get far before footsteps were heard from the way they came. They must have got through the door in the office and now were trying to get the passage way to open. She looked at him with mixed emotions as she hugged him again. "You have to leave…" she sobbed into his chest.

He hugged her again as tightly as he could and cried along with her. "You can… come with me."

Her reaction was to look up at him in shock before she looked down. "I can't."

"Why not?" he almost yelled.

She looked up at him again with even more tears before pushing her face into Adam's chest again.

"I have… to fix… this." she said sadly. "I have to… stay and be the next Overseer…"

"Then I'll stay and help."

His words earned him a slap across the face he didn't see coming from the woman who had been known as a pacifist her whole life.

"They'll kill you!" she screamed as she reluctantly got out of the embrace and dragged him to the now opened entrance to the vault. "Leave!" she yelled at him as her arms pushed him towards the large door. "Go. I don't want you to die!" she screamed at him as she pushed again. "Run!"

"I don't want to go!" he yelled back as he grabbed the hands that had started to pound on his chest. "I want to stay with you!" every word he said was full of emotion, and he could almost see them cut deep. "Even if you will always only see me as a friend… I want to protect you!"

"I'm trying to protect you!" she snapped at him as she struggled to pull her hands out of his. "You've been protecting me my whole life. This is the only way I can return it!"

Before he could recover from her words, Amata almost crushed his lip with her own. Again, Adam felt the world around him stand still as his hands released hers so he could wrap them around the woman.

Suddenly, those hands pushed him as hard as they could and made him trip backwards on the metal frame of the door.

He hit the ground hard, and instantly gasped in pain as his back landed on a rock. Adam's eyes snapped open to see the first thing he had ever seen outside of the vault. The roof of a dark cave.

Once the shock left him, Adam stood up shakily on the uneven terrain to see Amata already at the terminal trying to close the door as fast as she can.

"Amata!" she yelled only to freeze when she re atomized something in her right hand and aim it at him.

It was a gun. The same gun he had dropped just moments ago. And she was aiming it right at him as she continued to cry.

"If you don't leave… I'll shoot you…" she cried. The gun was shaking in her hand, showing how much she didn't want to aim it at him in the first place. He instantly called her bluff and started to walk back, only to be stopped by a round hitting the ground next to his foot. "I'll kill you!"

"Amata. Please, put the gun down." he begged as the cog shaped door started to move and cover the opening slowly.

"I wont… let you be… executed, even if it means I have to kill you myself…"

He wanted to think of a plan. One that either involved him getting back in, or her coming out, but the opening was too small by the time he came up with anything.

The last thing he saw in the vault was Amata drop the gun in slow motion as his pip-boy pumped in the necessary amount to allow him to see Amata for as long as possible. She started to fall to her knees as security guards descended the stairs behind her.

When he saw her eyes, his heart ached when he saw she was watching him as well, the just as fast eye movements taking in his image like he was taking in hers.

He wanted to do nothing more, but to hold her in his arms again.

The opening was so small now. Only one of his eyes could see through the slowly shrinking opening until it was nothing but a slowly shrinking crack.

He could see one of her eyes looking back at him and could see the emotions going through her.

Pain from losing a father, and now losing a friend. Sadness from having to watch him disappear slowly. Remorse for being unable to feel the same thing a felt from her. Fear for what was about to come, as well as fear for Adam's life. And then he saw one last emotion.

Relief.

Relief in knowing she was successful in protecting him.

He could some how decipher a message from just that one eye.

'Be safe.'

'I love you.' he replied.

There was some hesitation, and he feared he wouldn't get another massage before the door closed completely.

Just when there was nothing but a small sliver of space left to see through, he could barely see her answer.

'I know…'

Then the world sped up again, and he heard the loud sound of the cog locking into place again.

Not even a second later, his fists pounded on the door as he yelled Amata's name. The name bounced off the cave walls and eventually returned to where they originated.

"Ama… ta…" he said weakly as he fell to the filthy ground and continued to slowly hit his fists on the metal door.

Within twenty minutes, Adam's life was ripped apart.

He came back from the store relieved. The only living thing he found in there was a redroach.

The memory still haunted him. And when he returned to the vault a few months later when Amata needed his help, she hardly recognized him in his change of cloths and a new collection of scars. His body battered and bruised. His skin burned by the unforgiving sun.

She almost fell apart on the spot. He had no doubt in his mind that she was mentally berating herself. She made him leave the vault in order to help keep him safe, only to find out she had actually condemned him to hell.

The first thing he did after those first few awkward, agonizingly long seconds was walk up to her. He saw her start to retreat backwards in fear and jumped when his arms wrapped around her frame.

Much to her surprise, he didn't hate her.

No matter what she did to him, he could never hate her.

"I still love you." he mumbled weakly.

Stepping back into the place he had always thought was home, left him mentally exhausted. Maybe a part of him thought everything would go back to normal. Maybe his father would come back. Maybe he could once again have a home. Maybe he could once again hold Amata's hand as they walked through the halls.

But no.

He knew he had to go back after he finished helping her. Adam, now known as 101, had to find his father. His father needed to be found so he could continue his work.

And then, there was Sarah.

He started to look at her more often, even though she was always so strict. She looked so beautiful to him. He saw her in a way he still saw Amata.

When he collected the girls, he started setting up camp while chuckling to himself. Mostly to the positive memories of his childhood. Every time he paused to reflect on how he ended up where he was now, he would see the smiles of those he loved.

Having a photographic, along with an almost perfect memory, gave him the ability to keep a collection of images with him at all times.

Like a book full of pictures.

One showed Amata at his tenth birthday party with that stupid, red party hat on as she held the one she was about to force on his own head. Looking at it now, he thought it looked adorable on her. The next one was the day they took the G.O.A.T. together. They both were older. He had just gave Butch a bloody nose, and he and Amata held hands for a few seconds before they went to their seats. He looked over to her with a smirk on his face, and she, almost like she sensed him, looked up as well while pausing in the middle of writing her name to give him a smile.

Then there was another day when the both of them managed to swipe some alcohol, and drank together. He couldn't remember the details, due to him being intoxicated at the time, but he still managed to snag an image he loved to look at.

It was rather interesting, really. It was late, so no one was walking around but the guards.

They were sitting on a stair case that wouldn't be included in a guards patrol until later that night. Amata gave him her glass so he could refill it, and he accidentally poured the drink on her since she was sitting a few steps under him.

Amata had jumped up with a girly sound escaping her lips as she turned on him in disbelief. The upper part of her jump suit was open, showing the white shirt she wore underneath. The liquid soaked through the fabric, and instantly made the shirt become rather transparent. Before she looked down, Amata gave him a look of shock that was torn between disbelief, and effort to hold in a laugh at what just happened.

He loved that look on her face as she looked down at her self with the beginnings of a smirk that was replaced by a scowl and a look of embarrassment when she realized he was staring at her chest in a drunken haze.

She crossed her arms over her breasts and started yelling at him. Calling him a pervert, and what not.

When she finally ran out of steam. He got up and helped her close up the upper part of her jumpsuit.

He didn't plan it, and she knew him too well to accuse him of doing so.

It was moments like those that he loved.

But the next day, he woke up with a hangover as he realized some one was standing over him panicking, yelling at him to wake up.

He looked up to Amata, and instantly thought there drinking had resulted in her going to bed with him. So, with that train of thought in his mind, he gave her a smile.

He was sad to hear his guess was wrong. But when he said he was dreaming about her, he wasn't lying. It just wasn't about what one would think.

His dream of her actually was nice. They were sitting on a blanket that rested on green grass he had seen in one of his father's books. They were having a picnic together with a clear blue sky above them.

The food and dishes were put away in the basket, giving them enough space to just lay on the blanket, side by side as they looked at the clouds.

She didn't wear her jumpsuit. Instead was a long white dress that looked beautiful on her. Her hair was a little longer and hung loosely instead of being in the normal bun.

He was not wearing his normal attire either. Instead was a clean suit his dream self thought would be appropriate for the occasion.

The point of all this was, 101 never got a chance to find happiness. Happiness was already given to him since birth, and was ripped away when his father left the vault.

So, any thoughts of him settling down and starting a family were always ignored. He was too afraid to act on such impulses.

He was afraid, that if he tried to find happiness, it to would be ripped away.)

His eyes slowly cracked open, and winced when they were assaulted by a bright light.

The next thing he noticed was a splitting headache that felt like it was going to rip his skull open. His eyes slowly started to get accustomed to the light, and he slowly turned his head to see a hood looking at his arm. More accurately, his pip-boy.

He didn't care at the moment. If someone attempted to take something out of his pip-boy, it would lock up and ask for a password.

Another shape appeared as well behind the hooded figure. Shepard?

Yeah. It was Shepard.

She was looking over the first person's shoulder out of curiosity. When he looked at that hood, something told him he saw that hood before.

Seconds ticked by as his eyes narrowed in concentration.

Finally, something clicked.

Again, in his head. Might have to inform someone if there was something in the ship, clicking out of place.

He should know that hood. He built it, and the rest of the suit it is attached to.

"Not polite to go through someone else's things, Miss Goto." Plague said sleepily.

Her reaction was priceless. She froze as if someone dropped an ice cube down her front, followed by her head looking up slowly until she looked at him with slightly nerves eyes.

"Hi… Plague…" Kasumi said as her hands slowly pulled away from his pip-boy. "Sorry…"

He chuckled a little at her curiosity and saw how the sound made the woman's shoulder drop. She then gave him a small smile before Shepard made a noise that sounded like she was clearing her throat.

"Ma'am." Plague welcomed with a slight nod after he looked away from Kasumi. "Not that I'm complaining, but why are you two in my room?"

"We aren't in your room." Shepard clarified as she crossed her arms. "You collapsed in the elevator."

With those words' Plague remembered what happened and instantly felt a small burning sensation in his limbs as if he had just been lifting too many weights.

"That is… compli…"

"Don't say that!" Shepard interrupted. He was a little surprised by her outburst and how her eyes were drilling into him as if he were a child who was not telling the truth. "If some one mysteriously falls ill on my ship, I want to know why. I want you to explain to me why you are trying to take advantage of your ability to hide from the machines on the ship as well."

He tilted his head a little. He didn't know if it was out of confusion, or intrigue, but to hear someone straight out say they wanted to know what was wrong with him was a little strange. His whole life he had been asked the opposite sequence of questions when patching up people. Am I going to be able to walk again? How is my back, Doc? Will I be able to hold a gun? Where did you put my whiskey?

Actually… that last one was him, if he remembered correctly.

"Again, I am fine." he repeated as he started to sit up, only for Kasumi to push him back down.

"Don't lie to me." Shepard warned while Kasumi stayed quiet for some reason.

"Fine. I guess Garrus got in a lucky…"

"I said don't lie!" she snapped at him. "I've seen you take a lot worse then a turian's fist."

That made him pause a little. He could have sworn he was using a decent poker face… Great… now he wanted to play poker.

"Do you know how long Kasumi has been sitting here?" she almost yelled. Instantly, Plague looked at the hooded woman who continued to hold him down, even though he wasn't putting much effort in getting up. She looked away a little when she realized he was looking at her. "I want an explination. Now!"

Plague let out a tired sigh as he forced his way into a sitting position. When he was up, he looked at Kasumi for a long moment before looking back to Shepard.

He had many theories on what was happening to him. Not a lot of them made much sense though. And a larger number of them wouldn't be believed by a normal person.

"I… don't really know…" he stated honestly as he hung his head. "All I know is, I'm being ripped apart." that information made both women look at him in worry with wide eyes. "Some times… it feels like… I'm being ripped apart from the… inside out."

"What?" Kasumi voiced her first question as she leaned forward in her seat to make sure what she heard was accurate.

"What makes you think that?" Shepard asked in a tone that sounded like she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"When it happenes…" he started as he looked up at her with half lidded eyes. "… I can… see it."

After those last four words, everyone went quiet until Shepard asked her next question.

"Do you have any ideas? Would Mordin be able to help you?" she asked slowly.

"I don't think anyone can help me, Boss…" he answered in a slightly depressed tone. "I thought, maybe the Grim Reaper might have finally caught up to me, and is now breathing down my neck. After all… I should be a dead man."

"Why do you say that?" Kasumi asked in shock at his words.

"I guess I never really told you the conditions I was in before coming here, huh?" he asked sadly.

"Again with your apocalyptic world." Shepard sighed to herself as a hand rested on her temples. "Why do you keep trying to make us believe such…"

"If I heard correctly, the Council didn't believe you either." Plague stuck out there before she could finish. His words made the Commander stop in her tracks before looking at him. "What story is more far fetched? Yours, or mine?"

"That's diff…" she started, only to be interrupted again.

"Do you want to know what my last moments back home were like?" he yelled. Shepard couldn't realy think of anything to say, but Plague didn't really give her a chance to think anyway before continuing. "I helped people. And in return, I got a needle in my neck so I would be helpless while Enclave strapped explosive, upon explosive, upon nuclear device to me!" he shouted as he stood up. "When those bombs went off, the next thing a saw was nothing but an empty void. A large empty space with no light, no life, no food, and no one to talk to for what felt like years!" by this time, his eyes actually started to water, and he didn't care if anyone saw him. Shepard was frozen where she stood with her jaw hanging open, while Kasumi was still sitting in that chair with a look of pity on her face. "I thought I was dead!" after he said that, he fell back on the bed and sat there as his heart tried to slow down. "I… should be dead… At least then I would see my loved ones again. My father. I'd… be able to meet my mother for the first time. My uncle, Jonas. Sarah…"

One of his hands rested on the side of his head as warm tears fell and landed on the metal floor of the sickbay.

He wanted to get back up to aplologize. Plague didn't mean to throw his pent-up emotional baggage at Shepard and Kasumi. This should have been said with a little more… tact.

When someone sat on the bed next to him, he didn't bother to look at who it was until some ones arms wrapped around his shoulders.

What he saw was Kasumi trying to comfert him, and he was thankfull for her trying to. His hands moved on there own and held her as well as his eyes closed again.

He heard Shepard walk out of the sickbay, and the sound of the door closing made him want to follow her so he could clear the air.

"It's okay…" Kasumi told him as one of her hands started to make circles in the center of his back. "It's going to be okay…"

When the two finally pulled away, he saw Kasumi had started crying along with him as well. If it wasn't for the tears messing up her makeup he probably wouldn't have been able to notice under that hood.

"Thank… you." he mumbled as he looked into her eyes.

It was then that they realized how close their faces were, and they both held still for what felt like hours.

Kasumi's eyes were fixated on his. Eventually they started to feel a small pull that made them start to move their faces closer towards the other's. When his warm breath touched her lips he felt her shiver in his arms. Finally their lipps brushed up against the other's, the small contact actually making him think his heart skipped a beat. Before it could actually turn into a full kiss, Kasumi looked like she realized what they were about to do and pulled away to try and steady her breathing.

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have…" she said quickly, only to be silenced by Plague's hand signaling her to stop.

"I think… it was partially my fault as well…" he reasoned as they both just sat there quietly.

**Kasumi Goto POV**

She couldn't believe what she heard.

Kasumi already knew where he came from, but his story on how he arrived gripped her heart.

When Plague sat on the bed, all she saw was some one in pain. So much pain, that she thought she could feel it running off of him in waves. Her body moved on its own when she sat next to him, and hesitantly wrapped her arms around him.

Once they pulled apart, she felt like he was pulling her towards him. When their lips touched, she felt electricity shoot through her whole body. The feeling was so beautiful.

For a moment she felt light headed. Her heart was beating quickly. She was so close. All she had to do was move a little closer.

But then her legical side woke her up.

She haden't felt that way since Keiji… Her eyes widened in relization as she pulled away from him.

She thought she saw a hurt expresion on his face, but it was quickly replaced by a calm look with the beginnings of a smirk he always had every time she saw him.

Then he said he was just as much to blame.

No it was not. She sat on the bed! She hugged him!

If anything, only 25% of that was him.

"No. it was me." she pressed as she started to wipe away the tears she just realized she was shedding. "I'm sorry a lead you on like that."

"It's alright." he conceded. "I see you like the outfit." he said as he looked at his hadnywork before looking back at her face. Almost all traces of his outburst earler was gone.

It took her a second to understand what he was talking about, and smiled when she connected the dots.

"It is beautiful." she complimented. "I love it, but you didn't have to make it."

"Yes I did." he corrected. "Think of it as me apologizing for threatening you after Horizen.

That memory made her look down at her lap with a small frown on her face before talking. "I disserved it."

"Maybe, but that does not mean I had the rite to react the way I did." he apologized sincerely. "I shouldn't have asumed you did it her your oen personal gain." She looked up at him when he said that. Before she could argue anymore, he interrupted her. "If you keep trying to argue, Ill take back the suit."

Kasumi paused for a moment to stifle a snicker before aiming a playful pout in his direction "But I like Takara."

"Takara?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The AI." she explaind as she tapped the side of her hood.

"_I am, Takara!" _the AI anounced cheerfully, loud enough for Plague to hear as well.

He gave her a blank look before chuckling lightly.

"I see you two have become acquainted." he said, more to himself. "Nice to see you again… Takara."

"I like having her around. She makes good company." Kasumi commented with a smile before she remembered what the man said earlier. Her smile faded as she asked the question. "What did you mean when you said you were being… ripped apart?"

That question made Plague's smile disapear as well as he tried to divert his eyes.

She thought he was trying to find a way to avoid the question until he answered. "I think, what ever brought me here, wants me to go back." he said quietly. "This is only a guess on my part." he then looked back at her with a weak smile. "You didn't have to wait for me to wake up."

"I wanted to be here." she reminded him. She then looked at her Omni-tool to see she had been in the sickbay for almost five hours and let out a sigh. It was in the middle of the night cycle on the ship.

"How long has it been since you ate?" he asked her.

"I'm fine." she reassured. Sadly, her body betrayed her and a quiet grumble was heard that originated from her stomach.

"Liar." Plague laughed.

He continued to do so until Kasumi lightly elbowed him in the ribs.

"That's not funny." she scolded as she herself fought to contain her own fit of laughter. "Fine." she gave up as her hands went in the are in mock annoyance. "You want to come with me?"

He stopped for a moment before answering. I don't think Gardner is up. At least a cant see him in the window." Plague said as he shifted where he was sitting to get a better view.

"Its not a problem. I'll cook." she offered as she gave him a bright smile.

**Taylor Shepard POV**

Shepard stepped out of he elevater as fast as possible, and practically punched the door controls.

Many thoughts were going through her head. Mostly they were about Plague's confession. Old momories serfaced in her mind as she stumbled into her cabin and went straight to her bathroom.

She barely had enough time to lift the lid as she started pukeing the contents of her stomach into the bowl.

When her stomach was empty, she continued to dry heave as words, said long ago, were remembered.

("No light? They always said there would be- ah…" the asari's body stopped moving as her last breath of air left her.

By that time, Shepard was trying to comfert Liara. She had just made piece with her mother, only for them to have to kill the older asari.

Shepard felt like someone held her heart in a death grip as she pulled the woman closer to her, only partially because of the cold of the cave they were in. The rest of the large partion was because… it was Liara.

The blue woman she had awkward conversations with.

Liara always said it was because she didn't have much experience talking to humans. Shepard had a feeling it was something more.

And she was right.)

Benezia's words stuck with her for a while. Not just because of the impact it caused in her love's life, but because she to had asked that same question.

Gasping for air, lungs screaming, eat starting to cook her alive within her suit.

Shepard spashed water on her face at the sink as her death played in her head.

Plague was, as far as she could tell, telling the truth. At least concerning that void. And there was a good reason for why she believed him now.

She saw it for herself. Only difference was, she saw a light and thought she was moving on.

Instead, she woke up on a table without a familier face to great her in a world that changed so much within the span of two years.

That void is real.

**Elsewhere**

_A light shined brightly from the outside of her eyelids while she felt the warm air wrap around her frame. _

_The ground she was on was soft and she didn't want the comfort to go away. What the woman was sleeping on was far more cozy then most of the other things she had used as a bed. _

_She had even slept on a mattress a few times, and this was close to the feeling. Sure there were no springs, but it provided something those mattresses never had. _

_It smelled clean. _

_No smell of death._

_The air she breathed was cleaner then anything she had ever breathed before._

_Sadly that bright light was starting to become a real annoyance. She wanted to sleep. Why would some one deprive her of such. _

_It was when she rolled onto her side that the small sense of piece was shattered. _

_She screamed as a sudden sharp pain shot through her body._

_Her eyes snapped open, and she realized she was still on the unknown world. The thing she was sleeping on was a patch of grass. Yes, grass. And that light was the sun shining above her in a clear blue sky. _

_She cradled her right arm as she sat on her knees to take in her surroundings. _

_She was within a small clearing in the trees, and had been sleeping underneath a strange, short plant with large circular leaves._

_She must have ran herself to the ground the night before and fell asleep where she dropped. _

_A small sense of panic showed itself as she spun around and scooted farther underneath the plant, as if expecting her captors to suddenly pop out of the surrounding foliage. _

_After what felt like ages, she relaxed and rested her back against the, what looked like a small trunk, of the small plant behind her. _

_As she relaxed, her muscles finally started to ach from her exertion the previous night. Her legs ached, her left hand stung, and her right arm throbbed. And that was not including her ribs. _

_She looked around and found the plasma pistol and two stimpacks she got off of that one Enclave. _

_She reached out and grabbed the first one with her left hand, and grimaced when she saw the scraped flesh. Putting that to the side for later, she shrugged off the upper portion of her leather armor, hissing at the pain caused by the bad arm. _

_After feeling it, she found out there was only one fracture, at least as far as she could tell. _

_She took the plastic covering off of the needle and aimed it at the area. _

"_Do it fast." she said to herself as she readied herself._

_Using a stimpack was rather simple. All you had to do was insert the needle into the center of the injury, and it would take care of the rest shortly. That did not mean it was painless. For bones it was the worst. _

_She had to actually drive the needle into the center of the fracture and hope the pain goes away quickly. _

_Hopefully it was just a fracture and had no shards broken off._

_Before she could stab her arm with the needle, she let out a string of profanities once she realized how stupid she was being. _

_She picked up the removed article of clothing and placed the leather sleeve between her teeth, and let out a sigh before she readied herself again._

_The needle went into her forearm with a slight sting as she pushed it in deeper. _

_Every centimeter felt painful, but it was small compared to the larger injury. When the tip of the needle hit the fracture, she bit down hard as waves of pain shot through her body. _

_At first her arm burned, making her eyes water for what felt like an eternity until a cool sensation swept over her._

_She let out a sigh of relief as she slowly pulled out the half empty syringe and put it down, before clamping her hand over where she injected._

_The pain was dulled, and she could almost feel the bone knitting back together. _

_She would have to refrain from moving it for a while until it was fully healed. _

_Next was the hard part. _

_She used her hand to feel her side. Her skinny form made her able to feel her ribs one by one, and when she felt the third rib down on her right side she winced._

_There was only one thankfully. _

_She took a moment to take in how her waist looked before picking up the half empty syringe. _

_She bit down on the leather again as the needle entered her flesh and immediately made it to the bone. After she took a second to prepare herself, she injected the remainder of the stimpack into the rib. _

_Almost instantly she felt her chest burn, the pain making her involuntarily arch her back before slumping onto the ground when she pulled the needle out._

_Panting was heard in the small clearing as the cool sensation washed over her again. _

_She didn't want to move. She was tired. _

_But she had no choice. She was dehydrated, starving. To wait any longer could might as well be a death sentence if she fell asleep. And the sustenance would speed up the process the stimpck was going through. _

_She lifted her left hand and no longer saw scraped flesh. Instead she saw, what looked like raw skin._

_The multiple injections where helping her minor wounds. _

_She started to put her top back on until she noticed a sound nearby. The woman froze as she looked around for the source. It was when she realized what the sound was that she relaxed with a smile gracing her lips._

_It was running water. _

_In the environment she found herself in, she realized a few things. This place had plants. Healthy living plants. And what did healthy plants need?_

_Clean water._

_She wrapped the weapon and unused stimpack in her top and walked shakily in the direction the sound was coming from. _

_Once she pushed a small branch out of blocking her view she couldn't hold back the smile on her face. _

_Before her was something she hadn't seen before. It was a small stream with crystal clear water flowing through it. On the bottom she could see smooth stones with a brown color. _

_It didn't look too deep, maybe three feet or so._

_She placed her bundle of clothing on a rock and sat down to remove her boots. At the moment she wished she had a spare set of cloths. Would be faster if she just ripped hers off. _

_Untying the boots with one hand made it a hassle._

_Once they were gone she hooked her leather armored pants and pulled them down, and then did the same with her unmentionables. No one was around. An Enclave in power armor would be noisy walking through the environment. And they relied on them far too much to walk around without a set. _

_A pleasant shiver went up her spine when she dipped in a toe. It was freezing, and felt wonderful at the same time. She walked into the stream and sat down on the edge so she could submerge herself. _

_She just sat on the rocks and relaxed as the water ran over her, carrying all traces of the life she once had off of her shoulders. _

_She used her good hand as a cup and drank heartily. _

_Once she considered herself clean, she got out of the stream and felt the gentle breeze on her wet skin. _

_She let the feeling wash over her for a few seconds before she dressed herself. _

_Once she put on her torn top, she tried to tie some of the strips of leather together and only partially succeeded in doing so. Her torso was still exposed for the world to see, but at least her breasts were now covered._

_When she walked back with the plasma pistol and stimpack in her hands, she realized something as she sat at the bottom of a tree trunk._

_If she and the Enclave were here, then there was a chance the Courier was here as well. _

_The thought made her feel multiple emotions at the same time. On one side, she would have an ally somewhere. That would help her greatly if she could find him and avoid the Enclave. Together they could survive easily. _

_Now was the down side. She was afraid of the possibility of him finding out the Enclave got his position from her. He trusted her to take care of things in the strip. Instead she got captured by those he hates most and she told them he returned to the Capital Wasteland to see if he could help those in his home vault. _

_She practically killed him herself. _

_Would he forgive her? _

* * *

><p><strong>As you can probably guess, the AI's name is now Takara. What, many of you may not have guessed, makes DirtyBlue929 the winner. An awesome name man… or woman… or anything else that qualifies inbetween.<strong>

**I would like to talk about something a reader asked me. When Plague's fingers got smashed by the door of the project purity device, I did forget the doors closed up instead of coming down. Its just one of those small details that slipped through the cracks. Just for the sake of the story, just pretend the door closed deferentally. **


	21. Chapter 21 Of The Mind

**Long time. I know. My bad.**

* * *

><p><strong>The Wildcard <strong>

**Chapter 21**

The thief known as Kasumi Goto, by those few who actually knew her well enough to get a name, has seen many things in her career.

She's seen a hanar pickpocket six people in a small crowd, and not be noticed. A turian sneak into an all woman, and asari if you want to get technical, bathhouse that was the first of its kind on the Citadel. Someone spray paint a giant picture of a naked asari blowing a kiss to those who saw it on the underside of one of the Councils flagships when the crew was off on shore leave.

All of those things were probably not as strange as what she had just heard from the man sitting across from her.

"What was that?" she asked, dumfounded with her eyes wide.

"What is that?" he asked out of curiosity as he pointed to the small tub sitting in front of the thief.

It was one of the small tubs of ice cream she picked up the last time the Normandy refueled. The ice cream was even made with cows milk, and not some cheap imitation you would normally see anywhere else but earth, and human, colonies.

Plague just looked at the picture of a cartoon cow on the side with a raised eyebrow as his head slightly tilted to the side.

Kasumi had heard his question before, but from non-humans.

"Ice cream." she answered as she took the small lid off.

"I read that on the side, but what is it?" he asked as he looked at the white surface of the vanilla frozen dessert.

"You… don't know what ice cream is?" she asked him hesitantly as she used her spoon to scoop some out and was ready to eat it, but couldn't upon the line of questioning.

"I'll admit, the name sounds familiar, but I haven't seen any before." he explained as he looked at her spoon fixatedly with a look of curiosity.

The first thing to go through Kasumi's mind was 'What kind of human parents have never ONCE given their own child ice cream?' but stopped herself from voicing it when she remembered the man's background.

"Ice cream is made with milk and some other dairy products." she explained before finally taking the first spoon full into her mouth. The taste washed over her tongue as a chill made her shiver a little.

She ate some more and looked at the plate before Plague. It was a simple recipe for hamburger helper. But the food looked rather untouched. The only sign Plague had even thought of eating it was the food that was shuffled around a little by his fork as if the one supposed to eat it were a child. She looked at Plague and saw him look at the pieces of pasta, meat, and cheese with confusion.

He looked as if he was not sure he was even supposed to eat it.

"Why do I get the feeling you don't have hamburger helper back home?" she asked him after she stuck her spoon into her ice cream like a food versioned 'sword in the stone' so she could move back to her own plate. She just couldn't wait until after.

When she said she would cook for him, Plague must have thought she would make something he was familiar with.

"Back home, a lot of people relied on old cans of food one would find in the rubble of an old grocery store that was destroyed more then a few centuries ago." he explained as he looked back at her. His words made her eyes widen in surprise as she put her fork down. "Other then that…"

"The wildlife are all mutated and radioactive." Kasumi finished for him, remembering the first conversation she had ever had with the man about his homeworld. "How could anyone survive… that kind of place? Doesn't everyone get radiation poisoning?"

"Constantly." he answered with a frown on his face. "Over generations, humanity was exposed and mutated slowly. You remember those super mutants I told you about?" he asked. When she gave him a nod, he continued. "A super mutant is a highly mutated human being. The mutation makes their muscles grow out of control, while the bones grow bigger along with it. Their skin turns green, gray, or brown, that may be a reaction depending on one's skin tone. I have seen one that's muscles grew so much, that the muscle tissue actually ripped open the skin." he then looked back to Kasumi's shocked face before talking. "For the sake of you being able to finish your meal, I will stop there. As I was saying before, Humanity adapted. Me being a former vault resident spared me from most of the radiation one might have to go through growing up. So I might be a little healthier compared to an outsider. Although, my mother and father were born outside of a vault, I think."

Kasumi was still mostly thinking about those super mutants Plague mentioned with thoughts of pity going through her mind. Just thinking of being changed so drastically was horrifying.

And then she went to the topic of Plague's parents.

"I remember you saying your mother died giving birth to you, but what was your father like?" she asked. She wanted to know if there were some good points in his life.

She started eating as he explained. "Dad is… was a doctor and scientist. I can remember him standing next to me in a home made firing range as we got our picture taken." a small smile appeared on his face as Kasumi watched him go through the memory. "Growing up, he always made sure I was making the right choices. "I can tell you are faking it." he'd say when I thought I could trick him into letting me stay in bed instead of going to class." he gave a light chuckle as Kasumi smiled. "I always saw him as some immovable object when I was younger. Some one would argue with him, and he would still remain calm and collected, and yet he always had a smile when he saw me poke my little head into the room." he paused to take his first bite and his eyes widened in shock before he started chewing quickly, and yet slowly enough to savor the new taste. Once he swallowed he started talking again. "I remember him lecturing me when I would come home with some bully's blood on me. He would read while I played in the living room with Amata. When ever she was over, he treated her like he would me." he laughed a little as he shoveled more food in and smiled at her after he swallowed. "His cooking was terrible, but he would be able to make anything he cooked as healthy as possible. I bet if he wanted to, he could have made a plate with nothing but pure fat and still some how find a way to make it healthy for you. I remember sneaking over to Amata's, and she would get me some sweets her mother made. The whole time we are trying to be as quiet as possible." she chuckled a little from both, looking at Plague's face when he tried to talk with too much food in his mouth, and the cute image of two children sneaking each other sweets. Maybe one standing on the shoulders of the other to get to a cookie jar on a high counter. "I always wanted to be like him. Someone who could do so much good. Make such a large difference." he stopped eating and started moving his food around again as he looked down sleepily. "I could see the look in his eyes when I asked him if he could teach me how to be just like him, and help the sick and injured. He looked so happy. So… proud…" he trailed of as he, somewhat, froze with his head downward and his eyes focused on his plate.

"What's wrong?" she asked him out of worry when he didn't continue.

"Looking back…" he began slowly. "… I always wondered what he would say if he could see me now. What I did up until this point."

"What do you think he would say?" Kasumi asked with a comforting tone.

"How dare you say you are my son…" he answered calmly as his eyes looked at her shocked face.

"How could you say that?" she asked a little louder then she intended. "You said it yourself. You helped people!" Kasumi couldn't believe what he had just said about his own father.

His gaze just went back down to his plate before answering. "And in order to do so, I KILLED people."

His words seemed to silence everything around them. Her breathing. Her heartbeat. Even the hum of the ship's engines seemed to become a little quieter.

"I think he would still be proud of you." she whispered, just loud enough for him to hear.

"You wouldn't say that if you saw what I did." he replied. "I appreciate you trying to make me feel better about it, but that does not change what I did. When I left the vault, I changed." he looked at her again with sad eyes. "The ends don't always justify the means."

"Sorry." Kasumi apologized quietly as she went back to eating.

"Don't be…" he said back with the beginnings of a warm smile. "Thank you, though." he thanked her, and somehow the words made her give him a small smile.

With those last words, he started eating again.

Every once in a while, Plague asked her a question, while she did the same.

The conversation went from Kasumi's favorite heists, to Plague's life in a vault. The mood of the dinner quickly became happier as they talked.

"And then, Dogmeat hikes up his leg and takes a piss on his boot." he almost shouted as Kasumi covered her mouth so she wouldn't spit out her food while laughing. "Moira and I were just frozen, while Jericho's face goes as red as a tomato while he starts gritting his teeth."

"What happened?" she asked him happily.

"Absolutely fucking, nothing!" he declared loudly. "If he drew his gun, the guards would think he was planning something, and we didn't need that much attention drawn to ourselves. Only way I can keep him from exacting his revenge on the dog, was for me to promise him I would mod his gun into an automatic."

At this point, they both finished their plates. Plague talked, while Kasumi was finally able to continue eating her ice cream now that it was not as solid.

She gave a small shiver as she swallowed. When she looked back to the man sitting across from her, she noticed he was looking at her with a small smile on his face, while his eyes showed his curiosity.

"Something wrong?" she asked him.

Plague snapped out of his thoughts and waved a hand to her ice cream. "I was just wondering if that stuff is as good as your actions say it is."

She cocked her head to the side wondering what he was talking about. Before she could ask, she blushed when it dawned on her. She had let out a small moan of delight as she ate her favorite dessert.

'That's embarrassing.' she thought to herself. "Sorry about that."

"No need to be." he waved the apology away. "Everyone is entitled to their own forms of piece."

His words made her return another smile as she dug her spoon into the tub. When she started to bring it up to her mouth, she thought of something.

"Do you want some?"

He clearly didn't expect her to ask. She could tell just by how his eyes widened a little while his body paused.

While he was trying to come up with something to say, Kasumi already moved the spoon in his direction. Seeing her coming, Plague must have dropped whet ever made him hesitate and accepted.

Instantly his eyes closed as the flavor washed over him. She watched his reaction with a grin on her face as the man gave off a shiver that showed he didn't expect it to be as cold as it was. But he still swallowed.

Seeing his reaction to, what she and every other human considered as, earth cuisine.

It was then that a light bulb turned on in her head.

"I'll be right back." she told him as she got out of her seat and walked to her room with, what she could only guess was, a sense giddiness. She went behind the small bar and opened a drawer and found what she had stashed away. The foil like wrapper of the chocolate bar shimmered in the small amount of light behind her as she grabbed it.

Happily, she almost ran back to the door, and was about to open it when she realized what she just did. Her eyes widened in shock, her limbs froze, her mind backpeddled.

'I just fed Plague…' she thought to herself as a wave of heat made its way to her face. Then she became even more shocked when she realized something else. "I just fed Plague… with my own spoon…" this time she said it out loud while the words were muffled by the walls around her, hopfully stopping anyone from hearing what she had just said.

She didn't know why she did that. Hopefully, Plague didn't know how intimate the action could have been interpreted as.

**Taylor Shepard POV**

"_The desighn of the city shows just how calculative the protheans were." _Liara's voice explained to whomever wanted to learn from her findings. _"There is absolutely no waisted space. Every amount of distance in between buildings and streets showed that it was all built with both crowds and the size of modes of transportation in mind to minimize inconveniences and any possible accidents. The foundation the city was built on is not natural, which means they wanted the structures to be elevated so the oxygen intake would better suit their needs." _

Shepard just rested her head on her pillow as tears soaked it.

She thought she was done with those nightmares for the week, until the last one took her by surprise.

("Garrus. Left flank!" she shouted from her cover while Plague gave suppressive fire next to her. Jack was at the right flank, keeping the husks from going around and taking them by surprise. Kasumi was crouched next to Plague firing at a Collector who went out of cover.

As Garrus ran, shots bounced off his shields, making them shimmer until they dropped. Thankfully, he was already in the safety of the next cover before he was hit.

The houses around them no longer resembled how they were designed. Windows were shattered. Doors were peeled open. Belongings of the former occupants were strewn across the battlefield by explosions that reduced walls to rubble.

"Plague!" she shouted as she looked at the man. He had replaced his revolver for that small saw weapon while he grabbed a husk by the neck and gutted it. "Move up!"

When she said that he looked at her for a short moment before tossing the mess of cybernetics and flesh to the side before going into a sprint. It was when Plague reached his destination that she heard something that chilled the blood in her veins.

A flanged voice grunted in pain.

She looked over to the source to see what she really didn't want to. A mob of husks came out of nowhere, and were swarming Garrus.

"Garrus!" she shouted as some blue blood was seen on the trampled grass. She could hear him struggling to free himself in the horde that constantly clawed at him. Garrus was barely visible in the mass.

"Shepard!" he shouted in a large amount of pain.

With one of her best friends in trouble, she ran to him as her biotics flared. She fired a singularity into the mass with her left hand as her right was already taking pot shots while the unholy creatures started to float into the air.

Some still held onto him and pulled themselves back down in order to inflict as much damage as possible. Some were even resorting to using their teeth to bite into him.

When she got to him, she grabbed a husk and pulled it off of him as blue blood sprayed onto her from either Garrus's wounds or by the amount on the husks around her as they screamed at her in an animalistic manner.

When she saw Garrus, she couldn't stop the tears that started to fall. his chest armor was ripped off and the scales of his exoskeleton was ripped apart to expose the damaged organs.

She gave off a biotic pulse to blast the floating husks away from them as she started to apply Medi-gel to certain parts.

"Cover fire! Garrus is down!" she shouted as loud as she could. She was starting to panic. Shepard knew no one could survive such injuries. But she still applied all the Medi-gel she had on to the damaged tissue. She was going to do all she could to save her friend. To save all of them. "Plague. Get over here!"

She didn't hear him over the surrounding gunfire. When his medic set's armored hands replaced hers, she grasped her pistol with her blood covered hand and started to fire madly into the next thing she saw that even closely resembled a husk or Collector.

"**ASUMING DIRECT CONTROL"**

That voice cut deep into her as she looked around. It wasn't until she heard a loud shout of pain behind her that she found out where it was. She looked back and saw the glowing Collector standing behind Plague with it's hand through his torso and sending yellowish energy through him.

Plague thrashed around as if he was being electrocuted. His armor sparked. Smoke was seen.

Suddenly, his body went limp.

Harbinger was not even a little fazed by what he had just done as he tossed the man in his armor to the side with little effort.

"**YOU ONLY DELAY THE INEVITABLE"**

"Plague!" Kasumi screamed as she ran to him as she fired wildly into the collector.

Shepard was frozen in place as she watched the enemy appear in front of the thief and grab her by the neck.

"**IF YOU CAN'T PROTECT YOUR ALIES, THEN WHAT CHANCE DOES THE REST OF THE GALEXY HAVE"**

She turned her head slowly to the side, as if searching for anyone who could save the woman in Harbinger's grasp, only to see that the only member on the ground left was being swarmed by husks, much like how Garrus was earlier.

A ominous crack was the next thing she heard. Kaumi was now motionless until she was simply dropped ungracefully onto the bloodied grass.

"**YOU CAN NOT STOP US"**

Shepard felt warm tears streaking down her face as she franticly tried to get her body to move. Her body only shook until her arm lifted the blue smeared shaking gun in her hand to open fire on the one responsible for the waves of anguish going through her.

Each shot didn't seem to do any damage to the monster. Eventually she saw the thermal clip eject, but she continued to fire frantically.

And then, it went dark.

Slowly, she opened her eyes as she felt like she was being moved. She started to lift up her hand to feel her head until she realize she was in a small space. Her eyes snapped open to see a dome before her that only allowed a small amount of light into her coffin shaped prison.

"Let me out!" she screamed as she pounded her fists on the dome of the pod she was in.

Her heart was beating wildly as she panicked. No matter how hard she hit the dome, it would not crack. Her biotics did nothing in the small space.

"Let me out!")

She shivered as another sob escaped her.

When she woke up, she heard screaming in her cabin. Her hands grasped her head as she curled into a ball on her bed.

She wanted the screaming to stop. Stop the screaming. Silence the scream!

It wasn't until she took in a deep breath that she found where the screaming originated.

It was her.

She practically ordered EDI to not call Ckakwas. If the AI did, all Chakwas would be able to do was give her some pain killers for her head, and something to help her sleep.

Shepard didn't want to sleep.

The headachs were actually helping her stay awake. And she welcomed the pain thankfully. She couldn't even begin to think of, and nor did she want to, what her dreams might make her see.

**Miranda Lawson POV**

"_Atomization attempt: # 28 has failed." _the report before her read, making her rest her head on her open hand. "_Casing for the power sorce became damaged upon activation, causing a leak, radiation instintally killing the wearer." _

Miranda didn't know what to think at this point.

How such a divice could be constructed, not to mention how small it is supposed to be, made no sense. When she reviewed 101's discritions in her head and recorder, she had actively on her person at the time the conversation took place, the disighn and concept appeared rather complex no matter how primitive it looked.

'The thing has knobs, for God's sake!' she shouted in her head in frustration.

On the outside she looked a little tired, but calm. But on the inside was a different story.

Multiple side projects needed her attention before going to The Illusive Man. And then there were also the mounting amount of worry towards her sister.

Her last update from her contacts said Oriana's father had just received the massage for a job opening on the Citadel. She made sure it was a good job.

He would have to sit at a desk a little more then he already did, but the pay checks would be more then worth it. Not to mention the company provided great health benefits for both him, his wife, and most importintaly, Oriana.

Others in Miranda's situation would think the jump from a simple repair engineer, to a supervisor of many other engineers would be a little challenging. But she knew he could pull it of. Expecialy since he would be given fewer asignments then others in his line of work.

He would be paid hourly instead of per assignment, anyway.

"_Atomization attempt: # 29 failed." _the next report read. _"Power sorce grew unstable, and discharged outward, resulting in fifth degree burns on wearrer's left arm." _

'At least he survived.' she thought to herself.

Over the years she had been forced to put up with many brutal images. But they usually found something beneficial at the end. But after working for Cerberus for so many years, she started to question the death count.

Seventeen out of the twentynine wearrers ended up either killed, or sevearly injured. The luckiest ones were where those who had the device just fizzle out.

None of those attempts resulted in anything close to a successful atomization.

"_Atomization attempt: # 30 failed."_

**Taylor Shepard POV**

The warm water from the shower head felt relaxing as it carried away the dried sweat and tears on her body.

Shepard had spent the rest of the night in her bed listening to Liara discride her findings. She loved how the asari would sometimes pause before continuing to her next sentence. The way she always sounded a little socialy awkward. In a way, Liara was so inocent to her.

She remembered some times she had to explain a few human sayings like a needle in a haystack, or it's water under the bridge. Shepard's personal favorite was when Liara's translater picked up one specific phrase on the original Normandy from a random marine. The man was talking with another marine about the night he had on one shore leave.

Shepard had to admit, she wished he used some less vulgar words to describe his sexual escapades around her love. If it actually did happen.

Anyway. Liara ended up meeting her before going to sleep and asked her the most adorable question.

("Do you ever roll around in a cattle's feed, Shepard?" Liara curiously asked Shepard as they started to change into their nightware.

If you could call just a bra and panties "nightware" in Shepard's case.

Liara had just threw on the gown she got her the other day. It was a light blue with a silky fabric that want just above the asari's knees. On the hem you could see a few laced paterns that went up her sides and then went to her front to cover her breasts in beautiful paterns.

She had to admit, the gown was actually crafted to help the wearrer look as seductive as possible. That was clear considering she could see the black panties underneath clearly through the smooth fabric.

Liara, as an asari, didn't mind how some one looked as long as she loved the person for who they are. That is why most young asari didn't mind stripping down and dancing around a pole for the amusment of the drunken patrens who practically threw credits at them.

Shepard had got the idea to get the lingerie for her when Liara tried to surprise her with nothing but a towel as she waited for her on the bed.

Liara had been reading around and learned how humans could be stimulated by visual images, and wanted to see if that was true.

She guessed Liara was trying to find out if her bond mate thought she was attractive in her eyes.

Long story short… yes. But she loved her no matter what she looked like.

When Shepard gave her the gown as a gift Liara accepted it happily with a smile on her face that made Shepard want to drag her to the bed, no matter if she wore it or not.

But she had to explain how the garment was only to be worn at night, and not to consider it as casual wear to be worn around the ship. Thankfully, no one was in the mess when she pulled the asari back into her cabin and let her borrow some of her own clothing. Although, they already shared clothes anyway since they found out they both wore almost the exact same size.

Back to the asari's question.

Shepard froze before turning to her, in human terms, girlfriend and raised an eyebrow.

"I… don't think… so." she answered calmly, but with a small amount of confusion working its way into her words. "Why do you ask?"

Liara's brow scrunched up in concintration, making her look a little cute as she tried to find a good way to rephrase.

"Umm… Someone on the ship was talking about how he had rolled around with another human the last time we were on the Citadel." she explained as she started to go under the covers as Shepard followed her example on the other side. "Your species have legs. So why would someone resort to rolling on the ground? And why would you do so while hay is around? Last I checked, there are no farms located on the Citadel."

Taylor Shepard just looked at the beautiful blue face next to her with a raised eyebrow as she tried to disipher what she was just told. And when it suddenly dawned on her, she couldn't hold in the laughter that started as she layed on her back with her hands over her mouth to try and muffle the sounds escaping her.

'She doesn't understand rolling in the hay!' she shouted in her head. 'She should know what that is by now!'

Liara was extremely confused by her display and didn't know what was so funny. It wasn't until Shepard's eyes started to water that she reacted.

"Are you alright, Taylor?" she asked suddenly as she sat up. "Why are you crying?" this time her voice contained a large amount of worry as she grabbed Shepard's shoulders.

She hardly registered the contact until Liara gently shook her.

The sudden motion took her by surprise as her mirth induced teary eyes opened to see her lover leaning over her with a look of sadness and fear directed to the woman under her.

Shepard was confused until she saw a tear roll down Liara's blue face.

She instantly sobered up and looked at her with a look that mirrored the other.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she rubbed the archeologist's cheek with one of her hands.

"I'm… sorry." she quietly sobbed. Her voice made Shepard's heart ach. "I didn't… mean to… upset you…"

Shepard sat up and cocked her head to the side as she took in the image before her. Liara's hands were now resting in her lap as they started to pull a Tali, while Liara looked downcast with more tears starting to form.

She also noticed one of the straps to the gown had slipped off of one of those blue shoulders as well, revealing a good amount of cleavage and skin that practically shouted for her to look and do touch… but that would have to wait for later. Right now she had a crying girlfriend in her bed to comfort for whatever reason.

"You didn't upset me." she said soothingly as she wrapped her arms around the lithe form of her blue lover. "Why would you think such a silly thing?"

"Your… eyes." she answered sadly as her head snuggled into the crock of Shepard's neck.

It was then that Shepard felt like an idiot as her mouth wont into an O shape. She chuckled a little at the relization as she rubbed Liara's back.

Asari and human women have quite a few similarities. Especially similar physically… She checked.

Sure, Asari skin felt a little different, but it was still warm to the touch. Liara had warm, supple lips that tasted wonderful no matter if she wore lipstick or not. No matter her condition, her scent was hypnotic at times do to the pheromones all asari produce.

Other then those things, along with the blue skin and head crest, Shepard never considered Liara to be anything else but a beautiful blue goddess she would worship, while keeping those she thought as unworthy away from her deity. Maybe it was the amount of times Liara had, quite literally, blown her mind. But Shepard didn't care if Liara was not a human.

She was still as loving as always.

But it was moments like these that she realized there was some explaining needed. For example, Why do asari change color as they age?

It wasn't until Liara explained that the change from blue to purple signified that the asari had developed into the matron stage of their life. Like puberty, minus the downsides, like zits.

If Liara really wanted to, or if she became pregnant, she could turn into a matron as well in a matter of months, no matter how old she was. She could either wait for the faze naturally, or trigger it early without any ill consequences.

This happens entirely by choice. An asari couldn't accidentally get knocked up. If that wasn't the case, then Shepard would have hundreds of little blue daughters by this point.

"These aren't sad tears, Liara." she explained as clearly as she could. "They are happy ones."

That bit of information caused Liara to suddenly pull back far enough to direct a confused look at her.

"That… makes no sense…" she stated as she started to calm down. "Why do you… cry when you are… happy?"

"I was laughing too hard." she clarified. This only succeded in making Liara tilt her head a little.

"Why would laughing make you cry?" she asked. "Do humans experience pain when they laugh?"

Shepard was going to make a joke and say, Only to my sides, but thought better of it in case that would be taken literally.

"No. I don't know why, but sometimes we just… do." she answered honestly. She was not a doctor. "I'm happy right now. And nothing you can do or say will make me upset with you." she followed the end of those words with a small kiss to the asari's blue lips before pulling back and looking at her.

The intimate contact made Liara's eyes close as her lips remained puckered, as if not realizing Shepard had pulled away.

When her eyes fluttered open to take in the view of Shepard watching her as she lightly bit her own lip, Liara's cheeks started to turn a shade of purple as a sheepish smile graced her lips.

She looked so beautiful at that moment.

Her body moved by itself as she gentaly pushed her back on the bed.

"You still didn't answer my earlier question, Taylor." Liara giggled as Shepard started to straddle her waist.

Liara's eyes suddenly turned black, allowing their minds to become one. Their feelings for each other made perfectly clear. Shepard could feel the reaction of Liara discovering her state of happiness and couldn't help smiling wider with those blue lips.

She gave the blue goddess a smile as she leaned down to kiss her on the lips again, and pulled away just long enough to say one sentence before continuing.

"I'll show you.")

A new wave of tears replaced the dried ones that had already been washed away as she looked at herself in the mirror.

Those glowing blue eyes of hers was the first thing she looked at. The next was her face with a faint scar that went from the back of her cheekbone and up to in front of her ear made her divert her eyes quickly.

Similar scars were all over her body. Even though they healed nicely, the fact that the scars were a lighter shade compared to her tanned skin made her want to hide them.

Other then the scar, she saw the signs of how she failed to have a nice eight hours worth of sleep.

Even though her eyes gave off a gental blue glow, they still looked exhausted while they started to become a little puffy, due to the memory she was thinking about while stepping out of the shower.

That was two days before the Normandy SR-1 was destroyed. When she… died.

She felt a multitude of emotions within her.

Sadness caused by Liara's absense, remorse for making the few friends she had attend her own funeral. She started to imagion what the scene must have looked like, and quickly started to push the thoughts away when she imagined Liara crying her eyes out while everyone was trying to comfert her.

She wanted to ask, but was too afrade to learn of the specifics.

She left Liara alone for two years… and she will never get those years to be with her back.

Two years!

Her biotics glowed, making the droplets of water dripping off of her suspend in the air as she looked up to her reflection. She looked into those, now firey blue eyes and hardly recognized herself.

Sure her face looked similar. Yes, she had the same hair. Yes, her voice was the same. And yes, she still had her momories.

But what she didn't have hit her hard.

She didn't have the one she loved most with her.

The waterworks started to flow freely as she watched the tears run down her lightly scarred visage. Her breathing started to hitch.

As she broke down, her biotics deactivated to let the drops of water fall to the floor as if it suddenly started to rain within the small bathroom.

She didn't bother to put on a towel as she walked into her cabin, the steam from the shower following.

Her form calapsed onto her bed. She didn't care if she was still dripping wet from the shower. And she didn't bother to pull her covers over her.

Instead she went into a ball again as she started to cry.

She left Liara alone… and she will never fogive herself.

**Plague POV**

"Damnit!" Plague shouted in his room when his hand was shocked by what rested on his workbench.

The offending piece of technology realy starting to get on his nerves. He had been sitting there since he ate with Kasumi, and was still there three hours later.

He looked at the measurements and schematics on his pip-boy with a constantly growing sense of iritation.

The schematic belonged to an average Tesla Power armor. He was trying to make a new set. One that didn't take as much space, and still provide the biotic boost Shepard ariginaly wanted. Although, after the last mission, he decided to give the power flow a little more… restraint.

"Come on. Don't be that way." he said quietly to the machine as his hand slid in between the wires as his other one held a welding torch. "No need for such hostility."

And with a satisfying click, and a small weld, he fell back into his chair.

"Finally!" he shouted, even though what he had just accomplished would be considered 14% of what he was trying to finish.

And once he realized that, he mentally groaned.

He may always need something to work on, but that didn't mean building was his favorite past time. Only a temporary necessity in maintaining his gear, and to make sure he was not getting sloppy.

He reached to his left and another piece of chacolate was placed in his palm.

"Don't over do it." Kasumi said jokingly as she ate a piece of the bar herself.

Plague smiled at her words, but he still devoured the sweet tasting treat.

He had heard about chocolate. Maybe read a few words in an old book, or a bilboerd covered in graffiti. If he wanted to describe the chocolaty delight, it would be if God abtained a physical body on earth, and threw every good tasting thing in existence into a pot, you would get chocolate.

He couldn't get enough of it.

"But, is it not my philosophy to avoid a catastphi so others would worship me, do to my wares given to humanity?" he rhymed poorly in a childish manner.

Kasumi paused to examin his words before she smiled.

"Poetry is not your strong point." she said before loughing a little at his atempt to make her lough… Which succeeded. "And for future reference, a poem does not need to be all rhymes."

He just gave her a shrug before putting the blowtorch down and turned his seat to her.

"Can't blame me for trying." he gave her a smile in return. When he saw her eyes his smile dropped a little. "You should go get some sleep. You look like you are going to fall over."

"I feel like it to." she mumbled with a small chuckle. Then she let out a small yawn as she stood up.

"Do you need an escort, Ms. Goto?" he asked as he got up when Kasumi started to sway a little.

"No. No, I'm good." she answered tiredly while gaining her balance.

"You sure?" he asked again as Kasumi opened the door to leave.

"Yeah." she then looked at his small smirk and smiled. "Goodnight, Adam…" Plague flinched when he heard his name, and he saw Kasumi's eyes widen when she realized what she said. "I'm sorry, Plague… I shouldn't have…"

"It's alright." he waved off her apology. "Goodnight, Ms. Goto."

Once she found out he was not mad at her, the smile reappeared as she walked out. He stood in the doorway as he made sure she got to the elevator.

A part of him didn't want her to leave, but maybe that was because he didn't yet meet his quota for talking today since he was asleep for most of it.

When the elevator doors opened, Kasumi looked at him again and gave him one of her trademark smiles.

"Kasumi." he called out before she could enter the lift. She looked back to him with a look of confusion, but still had on that smile. "Call me Adam."

**Taylor Shepard POV**

"What, Timmy?" she growled as she stepped into the conference room and stepped on the ring.

At least he waited until morning before checking in. She was not in the mood for one off his little speaches. Progression of humanity this. Humanity first that.

It took three tries for EDI to convince her to get out of bed and get dressed.

As soon as both of her feet were within the circle, the familiar holographic grid swept over her, followed by The Ilusive Man's office appearing in her view. Tim stood in front of her, taking a drag from his cigerate in front of that image of a star.

He ignord what she said and looked at her with a look of business on his face.

"Shepard - we caught a break. I intercepted a distress call from a turian patrol. They stumbled on to a Collector ship beyond the Korlos system." he finished as he sat in his chair. Hearing the name, Shepard got series. But Tim's expressionless face still kept her on edge for some reason. "The turians were wiped out, but not before they crippled the Collector vessel." he then relaxed into his seat and crossed a leg, even though he was talking about something that held such gravity. "I need you to board that ship and get some hard data on the Collectors. Find us a way to get to their homeworld."

Shepard's eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms. If someone wanted to guess if she reacted a little skeptically, they wouldn't be far from the truth.

"Hard to believe how a turian patrol could take out a Collector ship." the Normandy SR-1 was more armed then a turian patrol ship, and look where it ended up. They just barely appeared on the ship's sensers before the craft was almost ripped in half by the first shot.

Her memory of walking through the old CIC with a giant hole in the hull above her in the vacuum of space was not a plessent one.

Tim breathed out smoke before answering. "Reports indicate the hull's intact, but all systems seem to be offline. They could be making repairs as we speack. I'm not saying it wont be dangerous, but we can't let an opportunity like this slip by."

"The turians have to be wondering what happened to their patrol. Why aren't they already sending out a recon team to look for survivers?" she asked. It was not like the turians to just ignore one of their own ships dropping off the grid.

"They will. Eventually. But I intercepted the transmissions. In the mean time…"

"In the mean time…" Shepard interrupted. "… the longer you block that signal, the higher the chances are that any possible survivers are dying in their exscape pods, waiting for a rescue that will never come."

Tim exhaled smoke when he sighed in minor anoyence. "Which would make your hatse beneficial to them." he shot back in his calm, calculative tone. "Your close enough that you could be in and out before the turians learn the truth."

The force of Shepard's glare didn't waiver. "Are you sure this is good information?"

"Information is my weapon, Shepard." he claimed proudly. "It's good."

"Send me the coordinates." Shepard did not ask. She demanded.

This man lost all chances of being her friend long ago, so being rude was nothing to worry about.

"Already sent." he informed before she could start walking away. "Once you're aboard the ship, establish an uplink with EDI. She'll mine their data for information regarding the Omega 4 relay." the man instructed. "Good luck…"

"Stow it." the biotic interrupted as she cut the transmision. "Joker. Go to the coordinates he sent us."

"_Already punched in, Commander." _the pilot anounced. "_Lets go find us a Collector ship."_

**Plague POV**

Living on an engineering deck, one usually could guess who might want to visit.

For example, Jack barged in an hour ago in a fit of rage. Plague being her outlet, in a none sexual way, was not surprised when the biotic vented.

Apereantly she read something she didn't like.

Not the funnest conversation in his life. But it was not boring.

Every once in a while, he even got an occasional visit from that nice quarin girl. It was refreshing to have someone to talk to about engineering, who didn't talk three hundred mph.

Kasumi must have still been in bed, do to them staying up too late.

All of this thinking about those who normaly visited him was triggered by who knocked on his door and was standing before him.

"Ms. Lawson." he greeted with an expresion that bordered between curiosity and not caring.

She looked at him with her calm expresion as he felt as if he were being examind.

"101." she greeted as well, although it actually sounded more mechanicle. "The Ilusive Man wants to have a word with you."

"And I care, why?" he asked as he crossed his arms and leaned on the door frame.

"You should care a great deal, considering you are on one of his ships." she reminded.

That just provoked a chuckle from the man.

"Tell him I don't care if he shits golden bricks." he said rather blunty. "I am here do to my employment with, Boss. If he wanted to have any say in what I do, then he should have recruited me himself." he took a moment to see the flabbergasted look the woman gave him before continuing. "Shepard doesn't like him. So I don't like him. Understand?"

Miranda took a moment to collect herself before speaking. "I would recommend you reconcider."

Plague raised an eyebrow at the tone. It was calm, but contained a great deal of authority. And he hated people he thought they had "Authority" over him.

He is 101. The Plague of the Enclave. Killer of slavers and murderers. Castrater of rapists.

Maybe that last one was a little too much. Lets just say he was drunk one night and stumbled upon a slightly more drunk man trying to force himself onto a passing woman he dragged into an alley.

Back to the here and now.

"Fine." he replied as the room behind hims lit up like the fourth of July and left the room empty. "This should be good for a laugh."

His sudden compliancy took the woman off guard until she put that mask back on that Plague could easily see through.

The trip in the elevator was pretty quiet in his opinion. Sure, she threw him in to a wall, and he was just waiting for a chance to defend himself with deadly force, but that didn't mean they shouldn't be civil.

"So… Whats new with you?" he spontaneously asked the woman.

"I'm relaying a massage to a huminoid headach." she shot back in monotone.

"Owch." Plague gasped as a hand cleched his heart. "You wound me, my lady. What has thou done to provoke a woman's scorn?"

"For one: Your still talking." that actualy made him chuckle quietly. "Two: You are immature. Three: you have no respect for your betters. Four: You withhold a technology that could revelushinize the way the galexy works…"

"For humanity." he interrupted. "Yes. We have gone through this already."

Those were the last words said in the elevator.

Plague followed Miranda out when the doors opened, for predictable reasons, until they reached the door to the room they were looking for. Before they could open it, someone did from the inside and stepped out.

"Plague?" the woman said, partialy out of surprise.

"Boss." he greeted with a nod.

He wouldn't say it, but Shepard looked terrible. Bags hanging under her dimly glowing eyes. She looked tense and irritated.

It was then that Shepard seemed to notice the woman he was walking with.

"What are you two doing?" she asked as a small, almost unseeable, glare was aimed at the woman.

He could see it was not aimed at Miranda, but the front of her uniform. More accurately, the Cerberus logo.

That told him something Cerberus related just pissed her off.

"My "Friend" her wants me to talk to a mutual "Friend" or ours." he answered.

This made her eyes narrow in a look of suspition as she looked at Miranda, who remained unchanged.

"Is that so?" she then stepped to he side to allow Plague entrence. "By all means. You might need to redial, I'm afrade." she said that part with a hint of satisfaction slipping into her words.

That made Plague smirk.

Miranda didn't comment, but she did give the employer of the man next to her an annoyed glare before walking past her.

Plague was about to follow her lead, until Shepard stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Be careful with him." she warned. "You have not seen what I have of how Cerberus works. Nor have you been around long enough to hear of it."

Plague looked back at her with a look of understanding. There were not many people he trusted in this new world. And Shepard was on the small list of those he would listen to.

"Does this mean you believe me?" he asked curiosly as he looked over his shoulder to her.

That question seemed to mute everything around them until she gave him a small nod.

"I have no reason to distrust you." she then retracted her hand and started to walk away from the man, and stopped before she was out of view. "Plague." she called back before he could walk on. "There was… supposed to be a… light in the darkness." those words were filled with such sadness, that Plague felt as if his heart was gripped tightly. But that was not the whole reason for why he felt that way.

"How do you know?" he asked, a sliver of his rage at the memory of that void leaking into his voice.

She paused as if trying to contimplate what to say, and faced him with sad eyes.

"I… died to, remember?" that made Plague's eyes bulge. "Only diference between what happened to me and what happened to you, is that I was pulled out of that darkness a few seconds upon getting there." she let those words sink in for a few seconds. The longer he thought about it, the more his nails bit into his palms. "I may not have been there long, but every second of being there felt like torture. I was lost. I was confused. And I was alone. To hear you were there for years… is heartbreaking."

He was cheated. Punished for some unknown crime. Placed in that state of limbo for some fucking God to get his shits and giggles!

"Th… thank you, Shepard…" he rasped as he struggled to contain the inforno within him that was clawing to get out. "I needed to know, and hear, that."

"I'm sorry." she half whispered as she looked down at her feet.

"No. I am sorry for yelling at you last night."

"It's okay." she said as she continued walking, leaving the man to think about her words. "As much as I hate it, you don't want to keep Timmy waiting."

He gave her anather nod, even though she had already turned the corner, before following Miranda into the room where he saw the table was gone. Plague quickly realized it must have went into the floor.

The next thing he saw was Miranda standing on a large circle that had a holographic gridded pillar going from the floor, up.

Miranda was standing in the center of it and focusing on something he couldn't see.

Hesitantaly, he stepped into the light.

**Elsewhere**

_Finding something to eat was an… interesting experience. She didn't know what was edible, what was poisoness, and sometimes, what was a plant and what was an animal. _

_That last one she found out the hard way._

_You sit on a log to rest and get up when you hear a gurgle, just in time to see the green mossy large piece of timber become covered in quills as long as an average middle finger. _

_She didn't dare sit on anything but the ground until three hours after this discovery. _

_She saw a few of those birds, but didn't want to risk her plasma shot being noticed by her previous company._

_She saw some things growing on a few bushes. Looked like small, slightly transparent, berries. They felt strange in the palm of her hand. Almost like the feeling of a smooth pebble. They looked almost like water droplets, with the way she could see through them. _

_She saw a small bird grab one in its jagged beak before flying off when it saw her trying to sneak up on it._

_The woman braced herself, and popped the small plant in her mouth. And it was when she bit down on it that she found out it was a bad idea. _

_Extremely bitter could have been a good way to describe what made her cough and spit. Salty worked to. But both were a big understatement._

_Her eyes began to water as she ran to the stream to wash out the putrid taste assaulting the taste buds on her tongue. _

_Clearly those were not meant for human consumption. Unless you got her REALLY drunk and dared her. _

_She must have looked pitiful trying to scrub her mouth out without the right necessities. _

_Even after thirty minutes of trying to get rid of the flavor, it was still on her tongue as a reminder. _

_six hours, and she still couldn't find anything edible, or catch anything. She didn't know how far away the Enclave camp was, so she was a little afraid to use the plasma pistol hanging on her hip. _

_She just was not fast enough. Her limbs still ached, her arm was still in a makeshift sling made out of a giant leaf and vines. The lack of anything but water in her stomach made her feel weak and tired. _

_And to top it all off, some of the small insects here apparently found human blood a delicacy._

_At first she thought the wildlife was beautiful, but now… she saw them as a bunch of little bustards. _

_At one point, she managed to catch a small six legged lizard of some kind, to find out they liked to spit in the eyes of those who threatened it. The saliva didn't sting her eyes, but the small timeframe it took for her to realize what just happened was more then enough time for the reptile to wiggle out of her grasp and scurry under a bush covered in thorns._

_It was already starting to get dark._

_She gave up for now, and started to look for somewhere she could start a fire. _

_That place turned out to be a small cave, just small enough for her to lay in. it was surrounded by plants, and the entrance was covered in thick vines. _

_The natural camouflage was perfect. Thankfully nothing lived in there. At least not for a while. _

_In some parts of the ceiling she saw stalactites. Most were about a few inches, but the ones near the walls were much longer. _

_Making a fire with one hand was more difficult then she thought it would be. So she went without the warmth for another night. It was then that she realized, if she had managed to catch something she would have been forced to eat it raw. And with her gut growling the way it was, she wouldn't have argued much._

_The hunger was at the point that whenever it growled, she felt the rumbling throughout her whole form. _

_She sat against the rocky wall, and faced the entrance. After being captured the way she was, she was not going to make the same mistake again. _

* * *

><p><strong>Cliffhanger, I know. I hate it to, but it looked like a good place to stop.<strong>

**Yes I am bending time and space by making the Collector ship mission appear earlier then when you play the game. Calm down potential flamers.**

**For the love of god, people. I understand there may be some flaws with the tech in the story from fallout, but what do you expect me to do? This stuff does not exsist, and the closest I can come to for specifics is from internet searchs. Now unless I have some magical device that helps me transcend the walls of reality and take notes along with a detailed sketches within a notebook, then there will be some things that don't fit. **

**And this is ! I can make all the tech run on ice cream and free hugs if I wanted to.**

**Now that I am done ranting about certain individuals sending me PM messages with colofull words in them…**

**Some of you have asked me what Plague's stats were, along with perks. The answer to this is a little complicated. When I made Plague, I envisioned a person who traveled through both of the events of Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. So with that in mind, imagion your character playing through the first game. You level him efficiently. Speck some in repair to fix up the small and big guns you specked for accordingly along with some explosives handling experience. Medical training for exceptional results from stimpacks. Agility along with perception and bartering. And then you have some points in stealth and quite a few in meelee weapons. **

**With alll of those stats, it does not look like much. Dose not look like you pland on your guy being the "Heavy Weapons Guy" or the "Stealthy Solid Snake" person. But what you get is a character with something better then isolating yourself to one. Adaptability in any situation. **

**You use your minigun, and then suddenly spot a raider with a rifle aiming for a headshot on a cliff. What do you do? Do you aim your heavy weapon at him and spray the area with ammo ment to be used for mediam range? Hell no. You switch to a sniper rifle and blow his fucking head off with an anti material rifle. Beat him at his own game. **

**Now you might be able to understand my play style. Nothing is high, but it works. But then imagian getting that character you made, stats and all, and put him in New Vegas with the ability to level even higher then the original level limit. And speck him the same way you did in Fallout 3. Add 50 to your original 50, and you get 100.**

**And that is Plague. **

**Only thing I will ask this time is, does anyone know if there are any Self Inserts involving the final fantasy games? More accurately 7, 8, and 10? **

**Ohh… and have a good summer. Next chapter shouldn't take as long as this one did. **


	22. Chapter 22 Kicking the Hive

**Before this starts up, words cannot even begin to say how sorry I am for making you all wait so long. **

**Many of you asked every the wait if I gave up on the Wildcard. The answer to that question is a big fat no. I already have so many plans for this story, and right now I am even sketching a cover for the story. **

* * *

><p><strong>The Wildcard<strong>

**Chapter 22**

Two seconds, and Plague already could tell he was not going to get along well with the alleged Illusive Man.

First it was the cigarette. Those things smelled disgusting to him.

Thankfully he didn't have to with the man not even in the same room.

Cigarettes. He knew specifically how they killed someone from the inside out slowly do to his medical knowledge. Knowing this, he never smoked anything other than those who got in front of him with a flamer. That didn't stop him from selling all the cartons he could find for a decent amount of caps.

The cancer sticks sold for quite a bit actually. And they were light.

Next thing he did not like was that suit. It was too clean. Too suave.

Next on the list, and possibly the biggest thing, was the hair. Oh God, the hair. All slicked back.

He didn't know which was the Cerberus mastermind, the man, or the monstrosity on the formers head that must be controlling him like some mechanized form of hair transportation.

Next was his way of carrying himself. Like he expected everyone around him to worship the cigarette buts he, no doubt, throws on his earlier shits made of gold and incrusted diamonds.

Then there are those eyes. Clearly not real, and most likely were cybernetics. He was not saying he hated those who had to get new eyes do to an accident or something. It was the way he was being looked at.

Like he was some… commodity. Something like he slightly acknowledged its existence like you would an ant walking on a recently scrubbed tile floor.

None mutated ants. The ones Plague was used to were quite noticeable, with the fire and what not.

It was like this man expected him to hand over whatever he wanted.

"Hello, Mr. 101." he greeted politely, but still in a way that already pissed him off. "Or should I say, Adam?"

Plague's eyes narrowed instantly as his hands formed tight fists. How he knew the name didn't need to be asked. Sure he removed all the bugs from his room, but that didn't mean there was not a small one he missed around the ship.

"Strike one." he growled. "You don't ever say that name."

The man just raised an intrigued eyebrow at Plague's reaction.

"And why is that? To be named after the first man in the bible to be created by God." he nonchalantly explained. "This could be a sign of things to come, if you were to comply with what I have to say."

"I have to agree." Plague voiced hollowly. "To be named the first man, and giving a thrashing to those who killed a questionable number of people just because they didn't evolve from primates on earth, or did not agree with the way you saw the galaxy in the name of humanity, could be seen as a sign." he spoke with a glare. "And to answer your question, you don't ever say my name. You are not my buddy, and I will not tolerate it being said in that voice or anyone else's that I don't give permission to. Now I have a question. How is this communication even possible?"

"If you mean, how can a see you, then that can be explained easily." he sucked in more of that disgusting smoke before continuing. "Your image distorts the memory of the machinery that captures it. If left in a program, it could corrupt all existing data around it in a hard drive. I simply delete the recorded image as it is viewed." his features then started to appear a little annoyed. "You have no idea how many resources are being invested into this one conversation."

"Fascinating." the vault dweller faked interest. "I recommend you tell me why you wanted to talk in the first place before this "Conversation" bores me."

He saw Tim's eyes narrow in annoyance, but other than that, there was no change in his facial expression.

"Vary, well." he put out his cigarette in the ashtray built into his chair's armrest. "Being a man with a natural sense of curiosity, I have heard many questionable things that have been brought to my attention." he said, as he stood up. "One of these things involved your… unique origins." Plague's eyes narrowed again at those words. "You were born in a world unlike our own. No space travel. What I want to know is quite simple. Why?"

"Can you rephrase the question?" Plague asked as he tilted his head. One sidewise glance showed Miranda still standing next to him, listening intently to the conversation but trying to look like she was not. "Simply asking why is a little vague, by my standards."

"Not necessarily. The question actually fits your predicament rather well." he then turned away to look out that window… or screen, whatever the fuck it was. He must have just wanted to do that to appear deep. Who knows? Better yet, who cared? "Why are there so many differences between our Earths? Why the violence? Why are you here? And last but not least…" he turned around to make eye contact again. "I have heard how you did everything in your power, even things most would see as extreme, to rebuild your world, only to be betrayed by those you fought so hard to protect." he had to admit, those words hit home. "You have been given a second chance to save lives… Why do you not want your fellow man to advance? You could have done many things in the time you have been here. Sold those antiques, sold the designs of those armors and gain a large amount of respect from many weapon manufacturers."

"I have already talked with her about that." he answered as he nodded his head in Miranda's direction. "The situation has not changed. Your group's track sheet still looks bloody to me. I highly doubt I will change my mind no matter how many times you ask the same question." he could have sworn he saw the beginnings of a scowl on the man's face. "To repeat the same action and expect different results is the textbook definition of madness to most."

"Considering how you pass yourself off as a man of equal trade, it would appear you are a little hypocritical on this subject." he observed. "You have nothing to lose by assisting me. The political events and people here, in this reality, are not important to you."

"Don't jump to conclusions thinking I would take the easy way in a heartbeat. I have not been here long, but that does not mean I do not care what happens to those around me." He retorted. "Nothing you can offer me will make me hand over anything I have." Plague replied. This man was really starting to irritate him. "Do you think I am a fool? I had many contacts on Omega, and plenty of them have heard of some of the things you dabble in. Human and alien experimentation, blackmailing political individuals, killing hundreds to cover your tracks, the attack on the quarian Flotilla so you could get your grubby little hands on a child, framing innocent people for things you do, unleashing a thrasher on unsuspecting marines who thought they were helping people, assassinations. Do I need to continue?" he could tell Tim was surprised by how much he knew, but only furrowed his brow slightly. "This is only the tip of the iceberg. When you live in a shit hole like Omega, you tend to pick up a lot of things. Especially: if you almost have a perfect memory. And I am a quick study."

The seconds ticked by as they glared at each other until Tim sat back down in his chair.

"You say there is nothing I can offer you?" he asked Plague in a tone he did not like. It was just under the surface.

"There is nothing I want from you." He growled. He could feel his nails digging into his palms. If the fucker had been in the same room he would have kicked his ass already.

"Not even a way home?" the question made Plague mentally gape, but he refused to let his expression change.

"I highly doubt you are capable of doing anything like that." He fumed. The vault dweller really wanted to hit something. "You must be getting desperate. Promising what is most likely impossible."

"The fact that you are here proves that such a feet is indeed possible." He reassured with a calculating tone. "Neither you nor I are capable if disproving the theories of the other. But we will never know until you assist me." After his words the room went quiet. Plague's glare continued at full force.

"The answer is still no." he growled.

"I am sorry to hear that. I can see this business opportunity refuses to grow fruit." and with that the transmission was deactivated and Plague found himself in the conference room.

"That was not wise." Miranda commented as Plague turned to walk out of the room. Her voice did not sound angry, just disappointed. "You are not in a position to be making enemies. Let alone, with Cerberus."

"You are looking at this the wrong way." Plague corrected as he looked back at the woman. "It is Cerberus who shouldn't be making enemies." he then turned to step through the door and left one sentence with the woman before he was out of view. "Let alone, me."

**Taylor Shepard POV**

"We have a visual on the Collector ship, Commander." Joker informed as Shepard walked up behind him in her inferno armor and helmet under her arm.

"Very low emissions." EDI explained as the ship came into view. "Passive infrared temperatures suggest most systems are offline. Thrusters are cold."

Joker's hands flew all over the ship controls, but hesitated for a second so he could comment. "That thing's massive. How the hell did the turians take it out?"

She had to agree with him. "Good question. It looks bigger close up to."

That was true. The whole ground team saw their last Collector ship on the ground. "Have Tali and Zaeed meet me in the shuttle."

They were now next to the motionless behemoth. This had to be the best view of the enemy she had ever seen since the attack on the Citadel. It was not a reaper she was looking at, but a tool of theirs.

Outside parts looked as if someone grafted some kind of rock to the hull while metal frames poked out here and there to form some kind of ring.

"I change my mind about it looking like a hive." a new voice spoke up behind her. "It looks like, and I am sorry for my language, a giant turd."

Shepard rolled her eyes at Plague's immature comment as she thought she heard Joker snicker in his seat before going back to business.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him as he stood on the opposite side of Joker.

He scoffed at the question as he leaned forward to examine the ship.

"You say over the intercom that we are paying a visit to some bugs, and you think we are all going to twiddle our thumbs?"

"I guess you have a point." she surrounded.

She wanted to ask him how the talk with Tim went, but did not know if it would have been appropriate at the moment.

"Ladar scans do not detect any hull breaches on the side facing us." EDI made her presence known. "I detect no mass effect field distortions. It appears the drive core is offline."

"So, no oxygen." she declared to herself as she put on her helmet, the orange visor bathing everything in an orange color. She hated helmets ever since she was a little girl and had the bright idea to run around the house with her father's antique motorcycle helmet on her head and fell down a flight of stairs.

"Rendezvous in 30 seconds, Commander." said Joker as he interacted with the display in front of him. "Good luck."

She gave him a pat on the shoulder as she turned to walk through the CIC, and thought she was alone until something flashed brightly behind her.

"Where do you think you are going?" she inquired as she looked back to see Plague following her, now with his heavy set on. "I already have Tali and…"

"No offense to your command, Boss." Plague's altered voice interrupted her. The verbal action was unexpected. He had never done that before. "When you acquired my services, you did it specifically for this kind of situation. Anything Collector related, and I am in. Even, if you disagree."

She was taken aback by his response, but still leveled a small look mixed with irritation and worry. "I'm not even sure you should be walking around. Not to mention sneaking onto an enemy ship."

"I am ready whenever you need me to be." he stated as they entered the elevator. "I am going to make those insects scream." that last part sounded more like a growl then a statement. She then realized why. Horizon. Shepard thought he was over being electrocuted. Apparently, she was wrong. "You hired me for a job. Let me do it."

She had a feeling she wasn't going to win this fight so she remained silent until the doors opened.

The Kodiak had been lowered and she could see Tali climbing in. She followed behind her and saw the second member of the ground team already sitting down. Plague entered next and took a seat next to Tali.

When the man's head snapped towards Zaeed she raised an eyebrow before Plague voiced what was on his mind.

"What the fuck is on your head?" he so elegantly asked.

"It's a helmet." the merc shot back, clearly irritated by how the question was asked.

"No. this is a helmet." he said as he pointed at the power armor's helmet on his head. "That is a helmet." this time he pointed at Shepard who shot him a glare. "And that is a helmet." this time he pointed at Tali's mask and she jumped in her seat and froze because of the sudden attention, instantly becoming self-aware. "That…" he was now pointing at Zaeed, whose shoulders showed he was seething in that armor. "… Is a scorched orange slab with eye holes cut out."

"Enough." Shepard ordered before Zaeed could shout at the man. "We have a job to do."

**Plague POV**

"Fine." Plague surrendered with his hands in the air. 'Still think it is ugly though.'

The sudden rocking of the shuttle informed everyone that they were leaving the cargo hold.

Soon they will be on the Collector ship where he could shoot something. He really wanted off that ship. Don't get him wrong. He liked some of the people on it, mostly members of the ground team. (Aside from Miranda, but it was not completely her fault.)

Upon thinking of the ground team, he looked to Tali who held a shotgun in her hands with a pistol on her hip.

He never thought he would see a quarian on a battlefield, with the suits and all. Nothing against the quarian species. It was just a little strange, in his opinion, for someone who could get dangerously sick from a little exposure due to insufficient antibodies, to put themselves in a position that could cause a breach in the suit.

On a medical standpoint, the condition fascinated him since he met that quarian his first day on Omega.

Maybe if he asked nicely, when they are not on a mission, he could ask her for a sample of her blood to look at. He was sure Mordin wouldn't mind him using a small piece of that lab so that he could pursue a chance to attain some knowledge.

He wouldn't mind getting a sample from Garrus as well.

Hell. Might as well, should get one from the krogon while he was at it.

He managed to drag himself out of that section of his mind so he could look at Tali again.

Now that he got a chance to look at the mask, he had to agree that it did look a little like the helmet of his Chinese stealth suit. Her normal suit looked a little different though. Looked like, some small armor plating was attached to her stomach and waist area to provide more protection. That made a lot of sense.

Not like she could change into some armor.

She looked like she was examining the thermal clip port before inserting the clip.

"You have much experience with that?" he asked as she was looking said weapon over before the mission started. The woman looked at him instantly while he barely was able to make out a small sigh come from Shepard.

"I know how to defend myself." she answered with a tone that said she didn't like the question.

"Did not say you couldn't." he defended. "Don't get me wrong, but a quarian going into what could possibly be a firefight seems a little ill-advised."

He couldn't see her face through that visor, but he could see the narrowing of her eyes and change in body language.

"My people are stronger then you might think." she almost growled at him.

He raised an eyebrow at that and saw how her thumb started tapping on the safety switch of the weapon in her arms.

"Sorry if that came out wrong." he started. "Once you think about it, you are the second quarian I have been in a conversation with. Your illness is just facin…"

"My people are not ill!" she shot back. She did not yell. Just sounded… irritated?

'Now what did I do?' Plague asked himself.

Before he could find a way to remedy the situation, the pilot of the shuttle informed the team they were about to land.

"We should talk this out later." he said as he looked through his pip-boy, even though she could be ignoring him.

When the door opened they saw their first, and hopefully last, view of the inside of a Collector ship. The interior appeared dark, and was only partially illuminated by an orange glow around the corner ahead of them.

Shepard and Tali stepped out first, followed by the merc with the ugly helmet, and then Plague himself. When his feet landed on the ground he landed on something he would not have doubted would make a squishy sound as the surface he stood on gave a little.

Looking down with the light on his helmet turning on, he saw he had landed on a fleshy substance that appeared to be a tan color covering the metal structure underneath.

His first thought was how disgusting it looked. It reminded him a little of the matter you could find in a sewer a mirelurk had used as a nest. Such thoughts sent chills down his spine.

Those walking crabs were freaky as hell. Their shells were strong enough to deflect normal rounds.

"Homey…" he mentioned sarcastically before looking back to the void where he could see the Normandy staying close. "Why are we not being sucked out into space?"

"Joker extended the Normandy's kinetic barrier to a small section of the ship." Shepard explained as she looked at the flesh covered walls.

"Right." he shrugged as his assault carbine materialized in his hands. Either way he had foreseen such a thing as fighting in space back on Omega. Most of his guns just looked like his older arsenal. What he was holding now was a weapon he had modified to work in the vacuum of space. All of his suits had been modified as well. He even built in a rebreather. It was much like the one he made near the New Vegas Strip so he could help retrieve an old bomber from the bottom of a lake. "I'll just sum it up to "Space Magic," I guess." he said that last part with an air quotation with his free hand.

"It looks like a giant insect hive." Tali commented as she looked around her with her shotgun, not getting involved in the small conversation.

"Penetrating scans have detected an access node to uplink with Collector databanks." EDI informed through the COM. "Marking location to your hardsuit computer."

"Roger that." Shepard acknowledged as they started to move.

As they walked, Plague noticed a liquid dripping from parts of the low ceiling. If he took off his helmet he would have heard numerous dripping wet sounds all around him. The sounds would escalate how creepy the ship was.

Walking around a corner, they saw what had been illuminating the section they were in. best way he could describe it was some kind of netting holding up orange glowing orbs above them that also had a liquid dripping.

He only gave it a two second glance as he followed the others who had done the same.

"Shepard. I have compared the ship's EM signature to known Collector profiles." EDI spoke up again. "It is the vessel you encountered on Horizon."

That made everyone pause a step for a second as everyone looked at each other as if asking if what they heard was accurate.

"Maybe the defense towers softened it for the turians." Shepard reasoned as they started walking again.

"Might see some of those colonists." Zaeed said as his ugly hat shined radiantly in the orange glow.

"Does not hurt to cross your fingers." 101 agreed, but then looked over to Tali as he realized something. "Can quarians cross fingers?" the engineer ignored his question, but still let out an irritated sounding breath of air. "It has to be an odd number of crosses though to make it good luck, so I think you are alright… that looks familiar."

Everyone followed his gaze and saw the pods ahead of where they were walking.

Shepard and Tali kneeled down to inspect one of them as Plague looked at another.

They all looked empty at the moment, which could either be taken as a good or a bad sign, depending on how you looked at it.

"It must have been horrible." Tali said sadly as Plague watched what looked like steam seeping out of the opening. He reached into one and when he pulled his hand back his gauntlet's fingertips had some kind of grey pasty substance on two fingers. "Trapped in these pods. Completely at the mercy of the Collectors."

He knew the feeling. When he went into that machine to save his father, there was a delay before it activated, making him think for a few seconds that he became trapped in the egg shaped seat.

Looking back now, he could see just how inpatient he was all those years ago. He mentally smirked at the memory as he reached out to remove the substance on Zaeed's shoulder pad, making the old man turn and most likely glare in disgust and anger.

**Taylor Shepard POV**

The pods reminded her of the nightmare she had the night before. The fear that must have been going through those people as they were carried around without consent must have been maddening.

Knowing that the ship they were on was the same one they saw a few days ago made her feel a sense of anger and regret.

The sight of what was around the next corner did not help.

To their right was a drop off that must have went throughout the hull of the ship and a tunnel to their left. What she was looking at in front of her constricted her throat as her heart stopped.

Before them was a pile of bodies. Most were misshapen and ripped apart. If you tried to identify where one body started and another one ended, you would never have been able to tell where to start looking.

Shepard had been on a battlefield before. She saw limbs be blown off of soldiers by grenades. She saw a varren rip open a man's ribcage as he screamed for someone to kill him.

Out of the mass of flesh and bone it was the less desecrated victims that hit her.

She saw the frozen facial expressions of fear and pain as empty eyes looked off into the void. One looked like a teenager with a missing arm. Hair had been ripped out of her scalp as incisions were visibly shown on her exposed form.

The way she was on the pile made it look like she was looking right at Shepard as her face was frozen in a way that told her she was screaming for them to stop. Screaming for someone to save her from the nightmarish hell she was dragged into where she must have seen others killed the same way. Her eyes were nowhere near ready to see what had happened before her.

Someone her age should have been at home, worrying about boys and fashion as she talked to her friends on her Omni-tool through the night. Instead she was violated by whatever implements had been used to make her final moments the worst moments of her life.

It felt like someone was squeezing her heart. Was that girl on Horizon, or some other colony?

"What happened here?" Tali asked, her voice making her sound shocked to the core at what she saw.

"Why would the Collectors just leave a pile of bodies lying around?" the oldest of them asked the rest of the group.

"They got what they wanted from them." Plague answered Zaeed's question. "They took what was not theirs to begin with and tossed them to the side like a filthy rag."

Plague's voice sounded angry as she saw him tighten his grip on the weapon. She had seen how he was concerning the topic of rape. This was even worse. These people were experimented on mercilessly while awake.

"They didn't deserve this." Shepard voiced sadly.

"Few get what they deserve. Fewer deserve what they get." he said back as she heard him turn away and walk a few feet.

"I'm sorry." she apologized in a whisper to the girl before her. Her throat felt like it was depraved of water as she forced out another apology. She felt her eyes begin to water at her failure to save them.

She then felt a hand on her shoulder and looked back to see Tali looking at her with worried eyes that were hard to see through that visor. Her friend was informed on what happened back on Horizon, and Garrus must have told her how she reacted after talking to Ash.

She placed her hand on the one belonging to the closest thing she had to a little sister.

"I'm fine, Tali." she lied.

The quarian hesitated a moment before giving her a small nod and walking off to the two men a little farther up.

When the two women walked into the next corridor they saw Plague checking the pulse of two intact bodies in a corner. One was a man, while another was a woman, both did not look like they were cut open.

"They must have ran." Zaeed commented to Plague. They must have been in their own conversation.

"Makes the most sense." he agreed. "The woman has burns here, in the stomach. Must have, been hit with one of those laser things before falling."

"What do you got?" she asked as she walked up to them with Tali at her side.

"These two must have escaped experimentation." Plague explained as he rolled the man and woman on their backs. "Both have a matching ring. So I am guessing the husband grabbed his wife's wrist here, and ran." as he spoke he pointed to a small mark where the man must have grabbed her too hard. "The woman, being dragged behind, was shot first and fell. The man must have stopped to try and pick her up before he was shot in the neck."

The story seemed to sadden Plague, but Shepard could still hear the anger hidden under the surface.

"They are better off." the merc stated as he looked up ahead.

She agreed. To spend you're last few moments with the love of your life vs. watching each other in intense pain.

The answer was easy.

Plague closed the two pairs of eyes as he placed them side by side and moved the closer hands together, allowing the man and woman's hands to then hold the other when Plague closed the stiff fingers easily with his suit. She had not seen this side of Plague, and she could have sworn she heard him mumble something before walking away.

In a part of her mind she wanted to know if they knew they were doomed. If they knew they could not escape the ship? Another wanted to know if they shared one last kiss before dying?

She forced herself to stop thinking of such and started walking with the others shortly following.

This was not just a place for their enemies. It was a place where hope came to die.

Shortly, they entered a room that looked different compared to the others.

In front of them was a row of devices and beds shaped like the pods they saw earlier. What grabbed her attention was what was inside of one of them.

A dead Collector.

"That's a Collector." Tali voiced their thoughts. "Were they experimenting on one of their own?" she asked out loud.

Plague walked up to the corpse to get a better look while Zaeed covered the way they came.

"EDI, I'm uploading the data from this terminal." Shepard explained her actions as her Omni-tool lit up. "See if you can figure out what they were up to."

"Data received. Analyzing." said the AI followed by a short silence as Shepard walked closer to the opposite side of the corpse as Plague. "The Collectors were running genetic comparisons between their species and humanity."

"Are they looking for similarities?" she asked as she looked into white eyes that used to be a bright orange like the Collector's brethren.

"I have no hypothesis on their motivations." she answered. "All I have are the pulmonary results. They reveal something remarkable." if there was any sign of excitement in EDI's voice, it was lost in her monotone way of speaking. "A quad-strand genetic structure, identical to traces collected from ancient ruins. Only one race is known to have this structure: the Protheans."

All sound seemed to be silenced in the wake of what the ground team just heard. Tali and Zaeed's heads shot up while Plague tilted his head at them.

Shepard's eyes were wide as her heart almost stopped.

Before them was a member of an ancient race. The race that all known civilization to this day built their technology off of. This both amazed and overwhelmed her.

Liara had dedicated her life to learning about the race. What would she say if Shepard ever told her what they were doing?

"My God." she voiced shakily as she took a step back from the body. "The Protheans didn't vanish. They're just working for the Reapers now."

"These are no longer Protheans, Shepard. Their genes show distinct signs of extensive genetic rewrite." EDI explained. "The Reapers have repurposed them to suit their needs."

"The Reapers didn't wipe out the Protheans." Shepard spoke her mind. "They turned them into monsters and enslaved them. Still, they're working for the reapers now, and we have to stop them." that last part was directed to the three with her.

"Damn straight! They're not doing that shit to us." Zaeed voiced loudly.

Tali nodded her head to her as Plague looked like he didn't even move. "Let's find what we need before the Collectors come to salvage this vessel. Move out." she ordered.

"First time in a while I had to do mercy killings." she heard Plague say as he started walking. "But until then… guns."

She looked over to him as he walked to a pile of weapons. The Collectors must have confiscated them and threw them to the side. Most looked unsalvageable, but three stuck out and looked in good condition.

A Revenant Machine Gun. The assault rifle was famous in the weapons manufacturing world. Most could not even afford it. Its raw firepower could riddle a man full of holes in seconds, but the range of it was a large drawback.

Next was the Claymore Heavy Shotgun. It was heavy and commonly used by krogon.

Last was an M-98 Widow, of all things. The anti-material rifle was used by sniper teams against the heavy plating of a vehicle and both the armor worn by krogons and the thick hide underneath. One shot could easily punch through barriers and shields, but the recoil could shatter the bones in a human arm.

Same went for the Claymore, now that she thought about it.

"Hello, my lovelies." Plague commented as he lifted the rifle and shotgun in each hand.

"What are you doing?" she asked him as she took the sight of a human lifting two weapons that only a large krogon could lift in a single hand comfortably.

"39 kilograms." he whistled as he looked at the sniper rifle. "29.72 kilograms." this time he was looking at the shotgun. He seemed to be trying to make a choice as his arms went up and down like a scale. "Anyone want anything?" he asked them over his shoulder.

"Toss me that Revenant." Zaeed ordered as he attached the Motock he was using on his back. "The red one!" he almost shouted at Plague looking through the pile, trying to find out what he was talking about.

"You know how to use that?" Shepard asked out of curiosity as the weapon was tossed to him.

"It's a Revenant, Shepard. Not a damn Hydra Missile." he shot back as if those words were all that needed to be said. "Not a lot is better at short to medium range."

He had a point. A lot of those who used the weapon treated it more like a shotgun than anything else.

"I'm good with what I've got." Tali informed a little awkwardly as she looked at how Plague was lifting the weapons with wide eyes.

When he looked at Shepard she declined.

"I don't like rifles much, and hardly use a shotgun as it is." she explained as she walked a little ahead.

The flash behind her said he made a choice, and not even five seconds later he walked next to her, Widow in hand.

As they continued walking down the next corridor they passed more pods. The atmosphere seemed to have everyone on edge. And the fact no one could hear anything outside of their helmets did not help much. You would not be able to hear anything coming up behind you until it was too late.

Shepard took the lead with Plague following next to her while Tali and Zaeed took up the rear in case something tried to sneak up from behind.

"Heads up." Plague instructed when they entered a slightly larger section.

Zaeed and Tali aimed high, but Shepard heard the lack of urgency in the man's voice.

When she looked in the direction specified she could see what had caught the man's eye.

Above them were more pods that went throughout a tunnel that lead out from the one they were in. There were dozens of them. Maybe even more.

When she looked to her right, where they would have to walk since they lacked wings, she saw even more containers.

"Must be hundreds." she heard Zaeed speak out as his weapon was lowered. "Wonder how many have people in them."

"Too many." she almost growled.

Being on Horizon hit her hard. It was the third time in her life she was forced to witness a raid on a colony. Her home, Eden Prime, Horizon. Knowing that every human in those pods were rounded up and forced onto the ship they were on was making her blood heat up.

Once they get what they came here for they should work as fast as they could to save as many as they can before more Collectors come.

"I detect no signs of life in the pods, Shepard." EDI reported.

**Plague POV**

"This is disgusting." Plague voiced with malice in his words.

He wanted to hit something. Shoot something. Gut something!

He did not know how that little piece of information affected everyone else, but he was fuming. It was even worse since he could actually mathematically calculate how many pods could be within a fucking ship this size.

Those numbers did not even stop anywhere near the million mark! It went way farther.

Billions!

"It is probable the victims inside died when the ship lost primary power."

That bit of news made everyone quiet, either out of shock or anger.

No one even said a word as Shepard started walking. Plague had to admit she looked tense.

The silence was not broken until they made it up a steep incline path. They were walking up to some machines. What they did? Hell if he knew.

"Tali. See what you can get from those." Shepard ordered to the other girl.

With a lack of hesitation a military general would be proud of, Tali followed the order. The way she acted around Shepard reminded him a bit of how Garrus responds to her as well.

No questions. No talking back. No hesitation.

It was as if they had worked together for years.

How much the two trusted her decisions showed in their actions. He had seen Shepard talk to the two aliens before, and all three of them always had something to talk about. They smiled at each other when one of the three walked into the same room.

Well, he assumed Garrus and Tali were smiling. At least with Tali he could read body language.

All in all, the way they acted reminded him of all those he had traveled with.

"It is a coolant system." Tali read off of her Omni-tool. She sounded exhilarated, as if someone did not kick her puppy, but dipped it in gold instead. Now that he heard that last phrase in his head he realized how fucked up that was. What kind of ass would dip a cute puppy in hot melted metal? "What they are doing shouldn't even be possible!"

"Can you salvage anything from it?" Shepard asked as she walked up to her friend. Her voice was a little livelier when she saw the engineer's reaction, but the sadness from seeing those pods was still there.

You can't use a poker face on 101.

Did he just think of himself in the third person? Weird…

"I think so." it did not take long for her to copy the design before her. "Got it." she declared with a nod as she put her Omni-tool away and got her shotgun out again.

"Commander." Joker called over the radio as Plague started to feel tempted to shoot one of those orb things giving off a glow. He really wanted to know if they would explode or not, but thought better of it when he considered how much Shepard would probably ride his ass.

**Taylor Shepard POV**

"What do you got?" she asked while scanning the hall they were in with her Phlanix pistol, the blue targeting beam piercing through the shadows like a knife, but not anywhere near capable to push the shadows back.

"On a hunch, I asked EDI to run an analysis on this ship." he continued and let EDI explain.

"I compared the EM profile against data recorded by the original Normandy two years ago." her head could not have perked up any faster than it had just done at the AI's words. "They are an exact match."

"You better not be messing with me!" she rasped as her hand tightened around the weapon in her hand. She could feel her biotics display its blue glow as her heart started beating faster in her chest.

"The match is 99.7%, Shepard." EDI reassured.

She could hear the adrenaline pumping through her. She started grinding her teeth.

It was this ship that took her away from her friends, her contacts in the Alliance, her life.

They took her away from Liara... They took her away from the one person that made her feel alive!

On impulse, her biotics flared brightly while she aimed her weapon at the wall next to her and started firing.

Each shot pierced the fleshy substance covering the wall, making some barbaric part of her mind think she was actually doing some damage. She fired again, and again, and again until the heat sink ejected, but she kept pulling the trigger.

"Shepard." Plague called as he walked up.

"Taylor?" Tali was not far behind, and actually made it to her first and placed a hand on her shoulder. She shivered as she realized her eyes had started to tear up. "Are you alright?"

"No, Tali." she hissed as she pulled her shoulder out of her grasp. "I am not alright!"

"Calm down." said Plague, making her turn to him, where he could clearly see her face through the visor. He worried about her condition. Not as much as Tali did, but in a way where he still cared for her wellbeing.

"Is everything ok in there?" Joker asked in some panic.

"Everything is fine." Plague responded without looking away from her. Even though she could not see his eyes she felt some kind of pressure around her stomach.

"I… we are okay, Joker…" she mumbled as she put her next thermal clip into her pistol. It was hard for her to put her emotions under control, and even harder to make sure her voice was level. "Let's move out."

"Be careful, Commander. Something does not feel right." Joker advised before the line was dropped.

"Great." Plague sighed as he started walking himself. "He just had to say that."

**Plague POV**

'He just had to say It.' he mentally repeated as they walked into a large section of the ship.

Everyone looked awestruck as they looked around. The large chamber was cylindrical shaped. And he did not mean it was a little bigger. Oh, no. When he says big room he means BIG room.

It must take up most of the space within the ship!

And that was not the most shocking part.

"Keela…" Tali quietly gasped as she looked at the same thing he was.

Everyone looked around and for a moment a feeling of both awe and horror washed over them. On the wall of the cylindrical room were pods. Perhaps billions. Sure, Plague ran the numbers in his head, but he hoped he was wrong. He was speechless.

A sickening feeling appeared in his gut as he gritted his teeth.

"They could take every human in the Terminus Systems, and still have pods left over." said Zaeed as he took in the sight.

Plague could picture everyone, aside from Tali, with their jaws dropped.

'Where would they get that many humans…?' his head then turned quickly to Shepard with breakneck speed as the answer clicked. 'Again: with the clicking?'

"Earth."

That one word made Shepard turn to face him, and he could see the look of horror and disgust on her face through that orange visor.

"Not if we stop them." she said back as she started walking again.

Looking around, Plague realized they were standing on some kind of long platform. He was half tempted to start shouting to see if he could hear an echo, but thought against it. Would not be able to hear it anyway… with the vacuum of space.

"What's that light ever there?" Plague asked the group as he looked far ahead of them. It was some kind of creepy bright orange glow that was both in front and behind them.

"I'm not sure." Tali confessed as she looked at the glow behind them. "It can't be a power source…"

"Could be like those orb things." Zaeed mentioned off handedly, clearly not caring.

"That would make sense." the quarian agreed. "A form of lighting, maybe?"

"Either way, don't get used to it." his boss replied over her shoulder.

"There- on the platform." Tali spoke up as she pointed ahead. "Looks like some kind of control panel."

Well… not much else it could be.

The platform was six sided with small waist high borders on the outside of the platform, and two similar borders on the inside with a green hologram displaying between them.

It was an odd shape, but the fact that not a bit of that flesh was covering the dark metal made him feel uneasy.

"Something doesn't smell right." Zaeed announced as the team's weapons looked over the platform and the surrounding area. The tone of his voice conveyed how suspicious and irritated he felt. "There are no Collectors around, living or dead."

Plague had to agree. Something was just wrong with this whole situation. If there were Collectors they would have seen them already. If they had died they would have been floating until the Normandy expanded the barriers.

Although there was the possibility the corpses could have all fell to the bottom of the ship.

But- the same thing throughout the ship? That was extremely unlikely. They had already found plenty of human corpses that threw that theory in the grinder.

They all tensed up a little more.

Plague followed the others begrudgingly onto the platform. He only slightly acknowledged the change from his feet sinking an inch with each step to him actually walking on hard metal.

Walking on something solid was only a miner relief.

"EDI?" Shepard called as she glided her hand over the green glowing interface. "I'm setting up a bridge between you and the Collector ship. See if you can get anything useful out of the databanks."

As they waited Plague zoomed in on the pods in the far distance with his helm. Upon seeing, or maybe lack of being able to see, all of the pods he could not help but reflect on some things. His earth would not even be able to fill a quarter of this ship.

For some reason he snickered at that just quiet enough for the others not to hear.

He did not know why that was humorous. Maybe it had something to do with his wanting his enemies to never get what they want. To deny those who wanted what was no right to be theirs.

"Data-mining in progress, Shepard." EDI reported.

"So now we play the waiting game." Plague said to himself with a small hint of annoyance. "Nobody wins."

Thankfully they did not have to wait more than a few seconds.

"Uh… that can't be good."

Everyone perked up at the same time at Joker's words. They all showed some sign of confusion. Zaeed looked at Plague, who was the closest with what can most likely be a "Did you hear what I heard?" look. Tali's eyes widened a little as she looked to Shepard. His employer's eyes widened as well through that orange visor with her mouth starting to make an o shape.

They all turned to see mechanisms within the cylinders move as a sudden jolt was felt under them.

"What the hell just happened?" his boss asked over the radio.

"Major power serge" was the pilot's answer. He sounded a little stressed on his end. "Everything went dark, but we're back up now."

"I managed to divert the majority of the overload to non-critical systems." The AI explained. "Shepard, it was not a malfunction. It was a trap."

After watching all of their reactions within the spans of half a second he suddenly felt both tired and annoyed.

"Fuck me…" his comment was interrupted by the floor suddenly shaking under them.

The surprise motion threw everyone off. Shepard fell forward and stopped her fall by grabbing the terminal while Tali grabbed one of her shoulders for support.

As they ascended they rotated until it suddenly stopped. Plague fell back and was stopped from falling over by the small wall behind him.

And even when the ship was coming to life he watched Zaeed fall on his ass and try to get up like a trapped turtle.

"Break a hip, old man?" Plague asked as he walked to the man when the platform was stable.

"Shut it and make yourself useful!" the merc growled as he gave Plague his hand.

It was after he helped him up that the vault dweller noticed something that was off. The platform was rising.

They were standing on a floating platform high above the drop to sudden death bellow.

"We need a little help here, EDI…" shepard said as she looked like she was trying to find a way to lower them on the holographic display.

"I am having trouble maintaining connection. There is someone else in the system."

"Incoming hostiles!" Tali shouted, drawing everyone's attention to a second platform floating towards them.

"Great." Plague cheered sarcastically as he shouldered his new Widow and peered through the scope.

On the platform like the one they were on, Plague quickly spotted four Collectors arming themselves as well. He also saw other platforms farther away. He noticed none of them were at the controls of the platform, so that told him they either already set the route to intercept them, or someone else was in control.

Either way did not matter to him. He was the first to fire and he felt the kick of the weapon hit his shoulder. He smiled when the side of a bug's head exploded, making the other four duck for cover. He liked the rifle a little bit. It actually had a lot of kick, unlike the small shaving shooters everyone else used.

"Four on the incoming platform. Two more coming from behind. One has a scion." He reported as he slid into cover behind the terminal with everyone else.

"Connection reestablished. I need to finish the download before I can override any systems." EDI's voice said over the radio.

"Then you better get it done fast, EDI." Shepered then turned to her team. "Plague, Zaeed. Try to pick of the oncoming platforms if you can. Tali. Give tech support and hit the Collectors that get too close."

Zaeed switched his new assault rifle for his sniper. Plague didn't know what it was called, but he had a feeling his new sniper rifle had more of a punch.

Before the closest platform connected with the one they were on, the collectors were already shooting out of cover, making everyone duck low. Most of the weapons fire was on him, to his annoyance. They must have been either trying to avenge the one he took out at the start, or saw him as the greater threat at the moment.

His shields shimmered in its rusty red color for a second before he got down.

"Deploying combat drone!" shouted the quarian in the group before her Omni-tool lit up and produced the floating ball that made a beeline for the enemy platform.

The vault dweller never understood how engineers made those little things, but he was not complaining as the drone in question went around the enemy cover and zapped one of the Collectors shooting at him. This created a small pause on the enemy's side of the firefight when they realized one of their friends was in the middle of being lit up like a sign in New Vegas.

When they turned to their twitching friend they did not give anything that looked anything like an emotional reaction. The bugs just simply turned, accessed the problem, and opened fire on the drone before it could get into cover. The way they moved reminded him of a machine.

It was shredded in an instant, but its sacrifice was not in vain when his employer took advantage of the distraction to stand and send a singularity that pulled in two Collectors and the still twitching one.

Tali had switched to a pistol and started taking potshots of the vulnerable insects while Plague was finally able to aim out of cover.

I bug on the second platform suddenly was missing a large chunk of its head as one next to it was hit in the chest. The second shot was from Zaeed. His first shot got rid of the shield and left it wide open for the next shot aimed at the center of the chest.

"Nice." Plague whistled before aiming, but being forced to get behind his cover as something like a biotic shockwave hit the other side with enough force that his teeth actually felt like they rattled.

He didn't need to look over his cover to know what it was. The slight chill he felt for a second was a dead giveaway.

"Scion, in range!" Plague yelled but realized how unnecessary the warning was since everyone was already in cover around him.

"It's coming around!" Shepard yelled when the platform the large husk was on went to the side suddenly.

The platform moved so quickly that they found it behind them within seconds of its actions being spoken.

"Jump over!" Zaeed shouted.

They all vaulted over the cover so that when the husk launched its next attack it hit where they were, instead of where they are now. Everyone aimed out of cover to shoot the abomination. Shepard fired a warp while Tali used an overload. Zaeed had what looked like a grenade in his hand but could not aim since the platform was moving too much.

Plague tried to fire only to see a red hot heat sink pop out of his weapon.

With an irritated grunt leaving his mouth he collapsed the weapon and put it on his back where it became attached thanks to the magnetic strips he installed. He didn't carry many thermal clips with him, and the ones he did have he intended to use with his new grenade launcher.

Shepard had switched to her new heavy weapon and fired the beam. Plague watched while his carbine materialized in his arms. He shouldered the weapon and added his gunfire to everyone else's and aimed where the beam of energy burned both flesh and circuitry.

Soon they wore it down. The blue mass stumbled back when it was hit with another warp and fell off of the platform to a death bellow.

"I hate those things..." he heard his employer mumble to herself.

"Another platform." Tali warned.

When the next platform arrived they went back to the other side of the cover as the bugs started to go to other connecting platforms and aimed after spreading out.

Shaperd quickly threw a pull and a collector started floating up. Everyone riddled that collector with holes.

"Plague." Shepard called. "We are going to cover you. Run to the right platform!"

When he heard this his armor flashed and was switched with his stealth suit while the sniper on his back was gone.

"Go!" she yelled and she started peppering the collector cover with her SMG while everyone else joined in.

By this time, Plague had already rolled over the cover and went off in a sprint. The platform he was now on had one lone collector that did not see him coming until Plague grabbed the bug and pulled it over the wall. He slammed it on its back and raised his hands in the air where they were engulfed in light.

When his hands came down one held a simple combat knife, while in the other was his ripper, roaring over the battlefield. Both were in a reverse grip and stabbing into the collector viciously as a grin formed on 101's face under his helmet.

Stab. Twist. Stab. Twist. Stab. Twist. Stab. Twist. Stab. Twist. Twist. Stab. Twist. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab.

The bug flailed on the ground as it was being ripped apart. The ripper was digging into the torso as Plague continued his routine and stabbing and then twisting before repeating the process.

Orange blood sprayed past his head while some landed on his chest.

His mind quickly found something entertaining from the sight of the bloody mess that was now lifeless. Small chuckles started leaving his lips as an idea came to mind.

Since the bug was missing quite a bit of mass he stabbed the knife and ripper in and heaved it over his head. With maniacal laughter he threw the lifeless carcass at the next platform and managing to hit a collector before it could realize what he was doing.

He mildly started snickering to himself as he went back into cover. His hands were covered in orange liquid now. It was funny. So fucking funny! The stuff was everywhere. On the ground around him, his suit, his visor.

So fucking hilarious. And Funny. So Funny!

He was used to red, but this?

"Plague!" he heard someone yell over the gunfire. He looked away from his hands covered in the funny liquid.

He heard the person again and peaked over cover, not even flinching when a shot hit his cover and almost scratched his helmet.

'It's, the Boss.' he told himself.

She was a nice boss. Not a bossy boss who bosses him around.

She is funny.

He snickered again as his knife and ripper were replaced by his carbine.

The bugs. He has to kill bugs.

'Stop it!' he froze.

It was that voice. The voice. His voice.

Reason…

Again, he heard a click. How he heard it over the battlefield was beyond him. But it was there. The click.

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.

He aimed at a Collector that started to glow and opened fire as it started to change. The rounds did not appear to be doing much damage, so he went back into cover and atomized his weapon.

"**Assuming direct control"**

He paused when he heard that voice. A chill went down his spine.

This feeling was quickly pushed to the side.

The bugs were going to scream.

And it was going to be funny.

**Tali'Zorah POV **

The sounds coming from Plague's comm spooked her a little. At first she had thought he might have been hurt.

That was before she saw him throw a Collector corpse at another drone.

She did not know if she should have felt relieved, or disturbed. This was the first time she had ever been in a firefight with the man on the team. The engineer had no way of knowing if that was normal.

"Tali!" she snapped out of her thoughts when her name was called. "We need a drone." Shepard ordered as she unleashed another shockwave.

The quarian would have to worry about her teammate's mental stability later. Right now she was needed.

"Go get them, Chikita!" she shouted as her Omni-tool came to life again and produced her drone again.

It started heading to the enemy platform. On its way she felt something at the edge of her mind that made her breath hitch.

"**Assuming direct control" **a chilling voice was somehow heard over the vacuum of space.

She had watched video feeds from Shepard's first encounter with the Collectors and hoped she would not ever have to see what was looking at them in person.

With an uneasy feeling in her gut, she commanded her drone to attack the being controlled by Harbinger. It did not make it far. The glowing Collector fired what looked like fire at the machine and melted it quickly.

It was hard for her to pull her eyes away from the scene and see Plague's head looking over cover before he vanished. She did not know he had a tactical cloak so her eyes were wide until she suddenly saw a familiar white flash from the enemy cover, where the glowing Collector had been firing blasts at them.

She saw Plague, again back in his heavy armor with a fist pulled back behind Harbinger.

She heard the laughter again that made everyone behind cover stop firing since Plague was now in the way.

The man then hit the glowing target HARD. A blue energy was seen from the point of impact that was in the shape of a halo.

Since it was hit from behind, the head slammed into the cover it had been standing behind with enough force that orange liquid remained when it turned to see its attacker.

The other two were doing the same. Before Harbinger could turn completely he was hit again, making its head snap in the opposite direction at on odd angle and disintegrated.

As the Collector to Plague's right raised its weapon, the man punched with his left. There was no halo like before, but the large head imploded from the impact as the weapon was grabbed when the corpse tightened its grip on the trigger. The human aimed the weapon at the remaining Collector. The rounds hit the torso three times before the weapon was released as the body fell.

The wounded Collector started to glow, but was interrupted as Plague's left hand glowed. The fist slammed into the chest and she could faintly see what looked like metal teeth digging in.

Time seemed to slow down as the man pulled back his right hand and delivered a punch that rendered the head of his target nonexistent before he planted his boot in the torso and dislodged his left hand from the mangled chest cavity.

**Taylor Shepard POV**

The Spectre did not really know how to take what she just saw. On one side, Plague found an opening and took out the closest hostiles to the rest of the squad. On the other, he risked being shot by friendly fire and being grabbed by Harbinger again.

In the near future she needed to have a talk with the man. But until then, there was another platform on the way.

"Zaeed. Tali. Move up!" she shouted over the gunfire.

There were two platforms separating the two sides.

"84%" EDI announced as the group went behind cover with Plague.

"EDI. Get us out of here!" she yelled as she sent out another shockwave.

The wave made one Collector fall out of cover and was quickly fired upon by the others.

"Grenade out!" Zaeed yelled as he tossed the cylinder.

It was not a disk grenade. So that told her it had a larger payload.

Her guess was proved correct when the remaining Collectors were engulfed in flames. The incendiary grenade's flames did not last long without oxygen, but the job was done.

The remaining husks were burned alive and not moving.

"Shepard, you must manually reestablish my link to the command console."

"You heard her." Shepard said as they all went in formation. Plague now had his carbine in his hands again as he followed along. "Cover me."

Everyone was tense throughout the walk to the first platform, and once they were there the ground team formed around her as she activated her Omni-tool.

With a few buttons the familiar blue sphere that was EDI's avatar appeared above the console. "I have regained control of the platform, Shapard."

"You did a great job, EDI." She smiled with relief as she turned off her Omni-tool and went back to looking around her surroundings like the others in case more Collectors showed up.

"I always work at optimal capacity." If she did not know any better she would have thought she heard some smugness in the AI's voice before vanishing.

Such thoughts were pushed away as her hand went to the side of her helmet. "Did you get what we needed?"

She heard her answer as the platform started to move.

"I found data that could help us successfully navigate the Omega 4 Relay."

"Let's kill the fuckers then." She heard Plague mumble to himself.

She shared his thoughts. The spectre wanted revenge for all those who were taken, and for her.

But they were not ready.

They still needed to finish building the team, and the Normandy was not ready to go up against a Collector ship.

"I have also found the turian distress call that served as the lure for this trap. The Collectors were the source. It is unusual." EDI informed.

"What part is unusual?" Tali asked before she could.

"Using the distress call as bait? Makes sense to me." Plague shrugged at the corner of her eye after he said that.

"No, it is unusual because turian emergency channels have secondary encryptions. It is corrupted in the message." As she spoke, a display appeared showing to different strands of data. Not being a techie, Shepard did not understand it and had to guess it was the encryptions in question. But she had to admit that even a drunk vorcha would be able to see the resemblance. "It is not possible that the Illusive Man would believe the distress call was genuine."

"How are you so sure?" the Commander asked, not yet seeing where this was going.

"I found the anomaly with Cerberus detection protocols." EDI explained. "He wrote them."

* * *

><p><strong>Muwahahahaha! My first cliffhanger of DOOM!<strong>

**Again, I am sorry for the long wait.**

**I have a quick question first before I go. My little sister has started getting into self inserts, and she asked me if I can ask you all a quick question. **

**Do any of you know of any Naruto Self Inserts that are not crap? Please let me know if you do.**

**One small thing, if anyone is writing a story either Bleach or Mass Effect related and need OCs feel free to use the ones I have. But if you do please tell me so I can read it. I like to see how everyone makes my OCs do things. **

**On a side note I have noticed there is a big lack of Far Cry crossovers and stories. I remember playing that game on the xbox and loved ripping the bad guys a new one with nothing but my characters bare hands. **

**Would be interesting as well if someone actually gained the abilities from For Cry and were thrown in to the Mass Effect universe, along with the animalistic traits that come along with the package.**

**Some one Please do this. That would be just awsome.**


	23. Chapter 23 Kicking the Hive Part 2

**The Wildcard**

**Chapter 23**

Everyone went silent over the comm for a few seconds as this new information sunk in.

His fists tightened on the carbine. He had only met Tim a few hours ago, and he already lost any chance of getting on the vault dweller's good side. Next time he saw the man he was going to skewer him on a wall.

"He knew it was a trap?" Joker asked in both shock and disbelief. "Why would he lead us into a trap?"

"That sun of a bitch sent us right into Collector hands." His boss seethed as she slammed a fist next to EDI's avatar.

"We should have known this would happen." Tali commented as she crossed her arms. The quarian's body language clearly showed how cross she was at the situation.

"I have said it before and I will say it again. Snakes in the grass, all of them." Plague growled.

If Zaeed wanted to add his own comment he didn't get a chance to before Joker continued.

"Uh… Commander." He started in an uneasy tone. "We've got another problem. The Collector ship is powering up. You need to get out before their weapons come online." As he said that everyone looked around to see the ship coming to life. Clearly the gloves must have been coming off since the ambush didn't work. "I'm not losing another Normandy!"

"A little hard to leave if our ride gets blown apart." Plague mumbled.

"I do not have full control over their systems." EDI jumped in. "I will do what I can. Sending coordinates for shuttle extraction."

"Come on. Let's move!" Shepard ordered as they ran off of the platform that had landed in the time they had been talking.

It was when his feet hit the ground that an idea popped into Plague's head.

"Boss!" he yelled as they ran. She did not turn back to him, just gave him a grunt that tolled him to continue. "What if I can get EDI some support?"

"What?" She shouted as she almost stumbled, but managed to maintain her speed.

"Have Kasumi connect her suit to the Normandy's systems." He clarified.

"She's good, but not that good." She huffed.

"She does not have to be. I gave her one of my AIs."

"What?!" ok. That time it was Tali. "Why do you have AIs?" she shouted.

"I work with them. Duh." He shot back as if it was a dumb question.

"Is it shackled?" Shepard asked with a wary tone.

"Fuck no. Why the hell would I do that?" he yelled as they spotted a room coming up.

"Shepard. EDI is one thing, but you can't be considering letting an AI that is not shackled loose on the ship?!" the engineer in the group pleaded in a tone that irritated Plague a bit.

"I have lived with the AI in question for a few years now." He shouted, some of his frustration going into his words. "Just because your people tried to commit genocide on your own AI…"

"My people almost went extinct because of the Geth!" Tali interrupted as he felt her glare on his back.

"Either do something, or get ready!" Zaeed shouted as they entered the room.

EDI then instructed them to go right.

"EDI. Would a second AI help?" Shepard asked as they ran through the door that opened in front of them.

"I am currently blocking hacking attempts while trying to maintain communication and trying to support you as much as I can. I am already working at full capacity." EDI informed.

"Would it help?" Shepard repeated her question.

"The odds of success would be raised by 35%."

"Shepard. What if it goes on a rampage?" Tali asked.

Even without being able to see his employer's face, he could tell she was in deep thought.

"Would it be under control?" she asked him in a tone that sounded like it was difficult to remain calm and clear.

"Yes!" he shouted. He didn't even understand what the issue was.

Not all AIs are dicks.

Just the ones that are in subway tunnels… that try to kill you if you do not have a ticket.

"Joker." She called after a few seconds of silence. "Call Kasumi."

"Not too comfortable with the idea of a third wheel, Commander." Joker mumbled. "Would rather stay a unicycle, thank you very much. Give me a sec…"

"No need." Kasumi's voice was suddenly heard.

**Kasumi Goto POV**

"I was listening in the whole time." The thief said a little smugly with a grin on her lips. "I am already in the AI core." As she spoke she started pulling the small cable that was built into her sleeve.

She had ran out of her room as soon as Adam voiced his idea. The thief did not yet know if her AI was reliable, but she trusted him.

If he said Takara could help, then she was going to believe him.

"Yes or no, Shepard?" she asked as she held the cord in her hand, ready to insert it into the port.

"Do it." The woman ordered after a small pause.

"You heard her, Takara." She called as a childish cheer was heard. "Play nice." She said before giving a small kiss to the cord like a parent before unleashing their child to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting playground.

"Play!" was Takara's last words before she was plugged in.

**Takara AI POV**

So many lights. So many words. So many equations and possibilities.

The program practically squirmed with delight and giddiness when she (at least she considered herself a she) realized she had a playmate.

She was suddenly hit with a scan as soon as they became aware of each other. The scan bugged her a little since she felt the firewalls around her starting up instantly.

Why so many walls? Being boxed in was not her idea of fun.

"You want to be my friend?" she shouted into the conciseness that was designated as EDI when she swiftly bypassed the defenses to make herself heard by the other program.

The pause in processing told her that her potential friend was shocked at what had just happened. Why was beyond her.

She just bypassed two firewalls and momentarily disguised herself as data to get to her new friend within the span of 3/125 of a second.

"Insufficient data." EDI finally said. But Takara quickly found out she did not like her attitude. There was no emotion. Didn't she know Takara wants to play? "Viruses are on route."

"Takara wants to play!" she whined to her fellow, yet boring, AI as she started making connections. Her program started to find outlets where she could dig up new information of her new friend. Friends did not hide things from friends!

She was milliseconds away from submerging herself in the flow of data when she hit an error.

She could not join her friend. They could not share their minds and tell each other their deepest darkest secrets. Sure she did not really have that much to say, but she would come back and share once she had something.

There was a block. Her friend was blocked. Why would her friend be blocked?

"Restricted area." EDI warned her. "Sensors are picking up additional hacking attempts."

It was then that Takara remembered something. She had been put in the system for a reason; she just forgot when she met her new friend.

'Meanies.' She remembered.

Meanies were trying to hurt her new friend and the Big Mountain CEO. They were all meanies. Mean buggies. Buggies being meanies.

She particularly hated three things. Not having fun was the first. Second are meanies. And third is a buggy.

She hated Buggies.

And they were meanie buggies. Any combination of those things irritated her.

She really did not like buggies. Especially Buggies who happened to be meanies.

No she did not one bit.

**Taylor Shepard POV**

"I really hope you know what you are doing, Shepard." She heard Tali behind her.

She did not like making her friends uncomfortable.

A larger room was coming up. Now was not the time.

"EDI?" she called as they heard buzzing.

Collectors were flying in and were illuminated by the orange glow from the pipe above them. They all ducked into cover when the insects started firing on them.

"The AI designated, Takara is currently assisting in protecting the Normandy's systems." The Cerberus AI reported. "I am now free to assist you without…"

"EWWWWW!" a sudden loud cry nearly defend them. "Kasumi! The pilot has a lot of dirty things in his browser history!"

"What the hell!" they heard Joker yell in distress as they gunned down the first Collector before it could land.

"Takara. Be nice." She heard Kasumi say to what had to be the second AI like a parent scolding a child.

"But there are so many dirty things in here!"

When she ducked behind cover she shared a glance with an equally shell shocked Tali he looked at her with unbelievably wide eyes that had to mirror her own reaction.

She had never heard of an AI that could react like that.

"See what happens when there is a second one?" Joker complained.

"You are a dirty old man!" the AI accused. She could imagine a little girl pointing at Joker next to his seat.

"I am not even thirty five!"

Shepard managed to snap herself back into the fight and sent out a biotic lift. The Collector saw it coming and ducked behind cover, making her biotic energy hit the surface.

She glared at the insect's piece of cover as she ducked behind her own.

A sudden spray of gunfire hit the cover of three Collectors to their right. Upon looking she realized it was Zaeed with his new assault rifle. The weapon was not that effective at long range, but it got the job done by making sure those bugs stayed behind cover.

"Takara!" she heard Plague next to her after he ducked back down. He was looking at something above them, and Shepard followed to see a rather large pipe. "How far can you dig in?"

"That looks like an exhaust pipe." Tali explained, and must have followed where they were looking.

That's what she thought it looked like. And the reason for why Plague was looking at it became clear when she looked at the Collectors position. Plague was going to have his AI open it right above the enemy cover.

"Zaeed. Keep them there!" she ordered as Tali fired along with her at the lone Collector to the left. "Plague?" she asked him as a round hit the edge of the cover right around her. Her military training suppressed the instinctive flinch. He must have heard the question in her voice and, knowing she couldn't see his face, nodded his head. "Do it."

"Takara. Now!" Plague shouted as he huddled up to the boundary they had been using as cover.

"Open wide!" the new AI shouted as they saw multiple valves and electronics above them start to spark. She could almost see something close in the section of pipe.

The see through material seemed to warp under the heat and once the metal frame stretched enough, everyone took that as a sign to get down and follow Plague's example. The floor shook under them as the cover they were using started to warp next to them and glow bright red.

Even though the cover took most of the damage she could still feel the heat through her suit. The lack of sound made her have to rely on the feeling of the vibrations all around them to know if it was safe.

Once the floor finally stopped shaking they all tentatively looked. The center of the large room was still sizzling with a redness glowing on the metal surfaces while the flesh on the walls appeared to be either completely incinerated or severely burned.

And then there were the Collectors unfortunate enough to be in the center of the room.

Once she made out the charred lumps on the ground she diverted her eyes. She could have gone her whole life without seeing that mess.

The section of the pipe looked like it somehow broke free where the metal framework either melted or broke under the strain.

Now that they were not being shot at, Shepard noticed the drop on the right side of the room.

"Straight ahead!" Zaeed yelled, drawing everyone's attention to what looked like a drop.

When she narrowed her eyes she corrected herself. It was not a drop, but a ramp going down that was not entirely pronounced.

"Move out!" she ordered as they all began to move.

The floor in the center of the room appeared to still be extremely hot, so they worked their way around the giant blemish in the original ship's design by vaulting over the cover to the left where Zaeed had forced two Collectors to stay in cover. They were not hit by the full force of the blast, but the amount of thermal radiation, even if it was a small amount, was enough to cook them on the inside and made those eyes that used to glow pop in the sockets.

She mentally shivered at that. Thankfully, whatever systems Plague's AI was in must have included a valve to shut off the exhaust.

**Plague POV**

"I fucking hate bugs!" Plague shouted as he took cover along with everyone else.

As soon as they descended they found themselves in some kind of large corridor. Not even one step in they were being shot at from both the right and left.

Thankfully the specific spot they were in provided plenty of cover.

Plague crouched and slammed his back into the conveniently placed short wall. His employer dived to the left while Tali was tackled into cover by Zaeed.

It did not take long for the quarian to recover though. Not even five seconds later a drone went past his cover and gained the attention of those shooting at them.

When Plague aimed around his cover he was greeted by an odd sight. Two Collectors were flying in from the right only to freeze in midair within what looked like a blue sphere with wisps of energy trailing off.

Only a second was needed for him to realize what caused it. As far as he knew they only had one biotic.

When he glanced to the side he could spot his employer surrounded by the obvious evidence it was her doing in the form of a glowing blue aura. Shrugging off the surprise he aimed his weapon at one of the suspended bugs. The first one he aimed at was quickly riddled with holes while the second was being shredded by Zaeed.

Both carcasses fell to the ground in two bloody heaps as Plague looked for his next target.

A spark caught his eye.

One of the Collectors started having spasms as a spark went from it to a nearby husk that started twitching as well. He could see the orange light of an active Omni-tool and noticed it was attached to the quarian of the group. Then he noticed the sphere floating around.

The husk was hit by a biotic throw as Plague fired upon the Collector.

"Move up!" Shepard yelled as she channeled energy in both of her hands. With a grunt being heard over the comm both balls of biotic energy flew through the air. The first hit a Collector who was aiming at the drone. Energy enveloped its form as it started to float off of the ground. Not even a second later the second ball slammed into it, causing the energy to detonate.

The biotic explosion practically ripped the insect in the center apart, while two nearby Collectors were thrown by the blast. The first hit the wall behind it with a loud crack as orange blood smeared the surface. The second was thrown over the drop to the right.

Plague grinned at the destructive power just used. He would never compare the strength to the few times he had seen Aria let loose, but it still was powerful.

Before the wisps of energy around the carnage could settle they were already advancing.

They only made it half way through the corridor before more gunfire forced them back into cover. By the angle of the shots the reinforcements were elevated on an edge.

He tried to peek over his cover but had to pull his head back just as some rounds hit the surface.

"Three up top!" Zaeed yelled as he sprayed a Collector that aimed down at them. Those around it ducked, but the target did not get a chance to do the same. It fell off of the ledge and cracked its head on the floor.

"Zaeed! Plague!" Shepard called out as she threw a warp above her to keep the three or so Collectors from firing down on them. "Grenades!"

As Zaeed went for his belt, Plague's right hand glowed as his left held his weapon. Plague guessed Zaeed was going to throw one of those fire grenades from before. What 101 had were less advanced, but still packed a punch.

After he had got in a fight with his first biotic Plague spent hours studying how the process worked. He may not have found a way to give himself those useful abilities, but he did find out how to use element zero to create warp grenades. Solid ones. Nothing like those some biotics could create out of pure dark energy.

They were peanut shaped and large enough to be held comfortably in his hand. The metal was black on one side and violate on the other. You held it like a bomb trigger and had to press down the small red button at the top before throwing.

He timed his throw with the old merc and pulled back and threw it. In midair his hand made warp grenades glowed purple before disappearing over the ledge, behind the incendiary grenade. Not even a second later three burning Collectors were thrown off of the ledge and hit the ground.

"Advance!" Shepard ordered.

They all moved as a unit, guns aimed at the new corpses in case they somehow survived both the blast and fall.

Only one twitched, but it was killed instantly by the well placed shotgun shot fired by Tali, who then ejected her thermal clip when she cocked it.

Shepard led them through the chamber, where they came upon a small drop. Plague's employer jumped down first, followed by Zaeed. Plague offered to assist the quarian down, but what he got in answer was a cold shoulder and the girl simply jumping down on her own, bending her differently bent legs to absorb the impact.

101 shrugged as he swept his weapon in the direction they had come from to make sure nothing was behind them. When he saw nothing he jumped down and backed away from the small ledge with his weapons still aimed high.

"Plague?" his boss asked.

"Clear." He reported while turning to look at the new chamber they were in.

He was surprised to see they now stood in a large chamber. If anything, the giant room was L shaped, with them in the bottom right corner. The part they were in was high above the rest of the floor, and could be descended from by the two ramps on both sides of them.

Such large space seemed a little odd to him. Other than storage space, he could see no other use for the chamber.

"So much wasted space…" He heard Tali mumble what he was thinking over the comm.

"I am opening a door on the far side of the room." EDI announced when they started descending to the main floor.

Looking across the room they saw the large door open, and from it spewed dozens of husks that ran right for them in a mob. No one needed an order. They all knew that if the husks got too close they could potentially be overwhelmed.

"Thank you, EDI." Plague mumbled sarcastically.

Zaeed sprayed the approaching mass of groaning corpses with his revenant. Plague accurately shot two rounds in each husk in his range, one in the heart and the other in the head. Tali switched to her pistol since she required the range. Her shots were not as accurate as himself and Garrus, but it was enough to take down whatever she aimed at. Shepard fired with her pistol in her right hand, while occasionally throwing a throw with her left.

The numbers of corpses still running into the room were impossible to count in the chaos. When they started firing the husk lines were only slowed down. By the time the freaks reached the middle their advance had been slowed down to a crawl.

"Grenades!" his boss ordered as a singularity came into existence. Plague could not help but notice how hard she was breathing.

He knew using biotics took a lot of energy. Recounting what he had personally seen her accomplished along with others he had seen, Plague found himself wondering how strong she really was.

On a scale on pure biotic force he had placed Aria at the top. At the bottom he put this one human he saw in afterlife who was just barely able to lift a coin in the air above his palm. At the time the guy was trying to impress one of the dancers who were on break getting a drink.

Let's just say you do not try to woo an asari with cheap biotic tricks, and to do so will only result in bruising your ego.

Under Aria he had placed Jack. Understandable since he had seen her rip her prison apart. Under her he had to place Shepard. She may not be as powerful as the convict, but she had potential to take the spot. Her stamina helped her a lot there.

Jack is all powerful. Sure, but even a newcomer to biotics like Plague could see she uses far too much power in her attacks.

He thought all this as he threw another of his warp grenades. The detonation caused a biotic explosion that threw a large number of the husks across the room.

The number of bodies entering the room started to thin out, so they started to slowly advance as they fired. Tali had switched back to her shotgun and blew apart whatever actually made it anywhere near her.

At one time she he had actually saw her take a kneel and aim the barrel of her weapon upward into the stomach of a husk.

The blast separated the husk into two pieces that flew through the air and knocked down some more husks.

He blinked at that. It was a nice shot. Being the (Perk: Shotgun Surgeon) he was, he had to give her props.

He was thrown out of his thoughts when he noticed a large shape floating into view ahead of them.

'Shit!' he yelled in his head as he dived to cover behind the short walls.

"Praetorian!" he heard Zaeed yell.

He had read the mission report after he was taken out on Horizon. He had not been able to help back then, but he was able to know. The site of the thing disgusted him. He had nothing against destroying the abomination.

They had all dived for cover just as two beams swept over their position. After the monster repeated to action two more times they aimed out of cover and fired everything at it.

Plague could not help but grin as he saw his rounds go through the barrier. But it vanished when they bounced off the metallic hide.

"Damnit!" he shouted as he reloaded his rifle. "Zaeed!" he suddenly yelled out when he saw a husk round their cover and run for the man.

The old merc responded quickly and kicked the husk in the chest, shortly followed by firing on it at almost point blank. The number of husks in the room were low, but that did not mean they were no longer a threat.

"Spread out!"

The group separated. Each member took cover separately as the praetorian floated over where they had been.

When they had scattered it turned left in the direction he and Shepard had ran. Plague ducked just in time to avoid two beams that swept over cover.

He wanted to aim out, but the monster was dead set on pinning him down.

"Plague!" his head snapped up to see the giant mass hovering above him.

He dived as the monstrosity hit the ground where he had just been. As he moved his power armor switched to his stealth suit in order to move easier. The force of the impact sent him rolling into the center of the room. His back hit on of the short calls hard, forcing the air out of his lungs.

"Must have… cracked something there…" he wheezed to himself as he gasped for air.

The first thing he noticed was his hands were empty. Even through the pain going through his side, Plague forced his eyes open and saw his rifle in front of him on the ground.

He reached his hand to grab it, but he momentarily paused when he noticed he was in a shadow.

He rolled just as the spot he had just been in was hit by one of the creature's legs. More sharp legs hit around him as he continued to move to the side.

When his momentum slowed down he found himself on his back with the thing lifting up one of its front legs. Calculations bounced around in his head. The thing was slow, yes, but it can use its own weight to accelerate how fast it could stomp… or impale.

He could re atomize a weapon, but he did not have anything with enough stopping power that would not kill him in the process.

His form lit up just as the limb was coming down. The tip was headed right for his chest. He had no idea how heavy the damn thing is, so the chances of it being able to go right through his armor appeared to be quite high.

Sometimes he hated being good at math.

**Taylor Shepard POV**

Shepard looked away from Plague when he rolled out of the way of the attack to throw a husk that slipped behind her. When she looked back to the man she watched in horror as another of those deadly limbs came down.

He would not have time to get out of the way, and at the corner of her eye she could see Plagues weapon on the floor. The man was unarmed and going to be killed right before her eyes.

And them a flash made her visor darken as a hand involuntarily went up to shield her eyes.

The flash died down quickly, so she squinted her eyes to try and find out what had happened. Plague was still on the ground… with the leg inches from his chest.

When she realized what had stopped it her eyes widened in shock.

It was not her biotics. Tali had not stunned it. Zaeed could not have been able to stop it.

Instead it was just Plague.

His hands were above him, holding the sharp leg with what had to be the most impressive show of physical brute strength she had ever seen from a human without biotics. How he did it did not make any sense. She was happy he was alive, but he should be dead!

Her eyes snapped to his armor to see what had to be what saved his life. But it looked strange. She recognized his heavy armor, but she became confused when she noticed bits of metal sticking out in places.

Those had not been there before.

And then it all made sense when she recognized some of the strange additions around his arms and shoulders.

He overlapped his armors!

That should not even be possible, but here he was.

"A little help… please!" Plague suddenly yelled in a strained tone.

His voice snapped her out of her shocked state. She now could see that Plague had only managed to buy himself seconds. The leg was still going down, just slowly.

"Zaeed!" she yelled over to the merc who had just gunned down another husk. When his helmet turned to her she pointed at the monster. "Concussive Shot!"

With years of experience she was grateful the old man had, she readied a powerful push as he aimed. She threw her attack just seconds before her fired.

The biotic ball and the round hit the side of the creature at the same time almost right next to each other. The combined impact sent the thing off of Plague and skittering on its side trying to find purchase.

Plague took this time to get up and quickly move away from the freak, picking up his weapon as he went while switching to his stealth suit.

Now that it was momentarily distracted Shepard realized they now had a window.

"Move to the door!" she yelled.

Everyone followed her command and joined up while moving. She and Tali were in front while Zaeed was assisting an exhausted Plague by placing one of the man's arms over his shoulder.

Tali gunned down to husks as Shepard threw another across the room.

The number of husks in the room had dropped to around ten throughout the fight, she it was easier to move around.

And they were about to reach the door when it suddenly closed.

"EDI, we have a problem." She said as they turned their back to the now closed door to see the Praetorian had finally managed to right itself and was beginning to stand.

"A temporary setback on firewall 3217." EDI reported.

"I am rerouting through firewall 7164" that time it was Takara, but her tone of voice surprised her. First she was surprised when she heard it act all cheery. But now there was some bitterness with what she could only guess was anger. "Door across from you is now OPEN!" the AI yelled as the door in front of her slowly opened. "Not a lot of time! GO! GO! GO!"

"Everyone move!" Shepard yelled.

As a group everyone both moved and fired upon the monster that was floating right at them.

Once they were through the door it stopped and landed on the ground. She was confused by its actions until its front legs went up in the air.

It was going to jump!

"Everyone down!" she yelled, but her warning was late.

Like a spring, the large spiderlike monstrosity jumped at them with a speed that should not belong to something so big. Her eyes slammed shut as her arms went over her head protectively, preparing herself her the impact that would end her life.

But nothing happened.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and was greeted by a shocking view.

Its legs were scratching against the floor desperately as that husk head filled maw opened and snapped at them. When she got ever her shock she saw that the door had closed on the insect and trapped it in the process.

"You are a mean buggy!" Takara suddenly shouted over the comm as the doors suddenly opened as the Praetorian's eyes started to glow. Before it could fire at them the door slammed on it with full force, cutting it in half with the action. "And now you are nothing."

If they had been in an environment that could let sound travel, no doubt the action would have produced a sickening crunch along with grinding metal.

With its death the thing started to dissolve.

"Let's keep moving." She snapped as she turned to face the tunnel. Her eyes lingered on Tali. She could see her wide eyes through the mask. "Tali?"

Her words made her jump and look at her. What had just happened was most likely one of the girl's nightmares come to life. Sure the AI saved them, but it showed just how dangerous it could be.

She placed her hand on the younger woman's shoulder and gently squeezed.

"Come on. We have to get out of here." She said in a tone she wanted to use when her little brother would have needed her… if he was able to grow.

Tali numbly nodded her head while holding her shotgun close.

They both turned and met with the other two. Plague looked like he had recovered, since he was now standing on his own.

"Good job Takara." The man praised, still sounding out of breath.

"You alright?" she asked as they all started moving.

"Yeah, Boss." He answered quickly in between heavy breaths. "Don't mind me. I think better with my blood pumping."

"Down there." Tali's voice made everyone look at the quarian who was standing by the edge of a drop to their immediate right. "That's where we came in."

When she walked over, Shepard looked down the drop. Just as the woman said, below them was a chamber they had been in earlier. It was too high for them to jump down. Well… that was not true. She could get down with her biotics. But that would leave everyone else to fend for themselves.

Zaeed, she did not know that well, and Plague… well he could be called a friend. Just not a best friend. But then there was Tali.

Her heart ached at the idea. The girl was like a sister to her. How could she even think of abandoning her.

For a moment she felt disgusted with herself. Sure it was a small thought, but that did not change how much she wanted to slap herself.

She would never abandon her squad.

"The end's got to be close." Zaeed said aloud.

"Move out." She ordered as she started moving with her pistol ready. "Not the time to be sightseeing."

They were on a ship that was almost literally coming to life around them filled with Collectors that could destroy the Normandy at any time.

After taking a right up ahead she paused when they walked into a room that looked almost exactly like the room before the large open one. Only difference was the far end of the room was elevated. There was still a drop to their right that they would have to watch in case of incoming flying hostiles.

"Zaeed. With me. Tali. Plague. watch our six." It did not take long for the old merc to be at her side while Tali and Plague stood shoulder to shoulder, facing where they came.

Advancing in, it did not take long for Collectors to attack. Not even five feet in a couple of the bugs descended from a large hole above and land behind cover an the elevated part of the room. She and Zaeed went to cover to the left, while Plague and Tali went right to take cover near the edge. They had to be careful or else they would fall to their deaths.

Shepard charged up a pull in her hand that she threw around her cover. She could not see if she was able to hit anything, but Plague fired at something quickly before going back into cover.

"On the right!" Tali yelled in alarm. She glanced over and saw more husks climbing up and trying to pull themselves up over the ledge.

She saw the quarian blast a husk that came up next to her at point blank when it tried to grab her foot.

The commander's weapon was aimed out of cover and fired twice before going back down. Those two shots hit their target in a Collector's chest.

Zaeed threw another of those grenades of his that landed somewhere behind the piece of enemy cover. Again, with the lack of air, the flames only flash fried two bugs that fell to the floor.

"Advance!" she yelled when the amount of enemy fire paused for a few seconds. That told her there were either no living ones in front of them, or they were cooling down their weapons."

"**YOU CAN NOT ESCAPE THE INEFITABLE" **Harbinger's voice suddenly spoke. Her eyes widened as she looked around for the blazing biotics.

When she spotted him she did not hesitate to send a warp the possessed Collector's way as the form descended from the opening above with three others. Harbinger threw a warp of his own, and it engulfed her own warp before it could hit. Thankfully they canceled each other out.

"**YOU AND EVERYTHING YOU KNOW WILL END" **she shivered from what she could only guess was a mix of fear and disgust at those words. Her grip tightened on her weapon as she readied another warp.

"I ever say how much I just hate that guy?" she heard Plague ask as she saw him at the corner of her eye kicking a husk in the chest, making it fall down the pit.

She ignored him and switched to the particle beam on her back. After putting her pistol on her hip she aimed the heavy weapon out of cover and held down the trigger.

The golden beam materialized as she felt the vibrations the power source created. Harbinger's shields flickered when the beam hit. He did not even take cover, showing just how much he did not care for the form he was controlling.

She knew the old race was gone, but that did not mean she did not feel at least a little sorry for the Collectors. They were pawns, toys that can be replaced at any time. To the Reapers they were nothing. And if they failed to stop them, they could meet the same fate.

"Grenade out!" Plague yelled as the object flew through the air. The oddly shape grenade spin a little before landing at Harbinger's feet.

The grenade detonated with a purple and blue flash, making Shepard grateful her helmet's visor could adjust to the light. When it died down there was almost nothing left of the possessed Collector. And what was there had started to dissolve.

She had everyone form up on her as they ran around the corner. As soon as they did her eyes widened. A scion was stumbling towards them with one of those mangled and fused arms raised in their direction.

Being the biotic she was, she could sense the buildup of element zero and knew what was going to happen.

"Move!" she shouted as the monster unleashed that energy. They all managed to take cover to the right just as the wave hit.

"Damnit!" Zaeed cursed. She looked over and saw that his left shoulder had been hit by the wave.

The piece of armor looked warped as frost started to appear on the edges. Zaeed did not hesitate to detach the guard and throw it on the ground as it melted.

"How the hell does something freeze and melt at the same time?!" Plague yelled as he glanced around the cover next to her, and pulling his head back before energy hit it.

"There's no heat. It's just warped." She answered before looking at Tali. "Use a drone to distract it."

Tali nodded as her Omni-tool appeared.

"Wait until after it attacks, or the drone won't last two seconds." Plague advised.

"Plague." Shepard started. He looked at her. "I want you ready to take that bastard out!"

He nodded as his hands lit up. When the light dimmed she saw he was in his stealth suit with the saw blade of his he called a ripper.

"Now!" she yelled when the cover was hit. Before the energy could disperse completely, Tali stood up and created a drone that floated straight at the scion.

**Plague POV**

As soon as his employer gave the signal, he activated his cloak. Tali stood up and sent out her drone while he jumped over the cover. He made sure to go right when the drone went left.

The mindless creature turned to follow the machine, putting the vault dweller in its blind spot. With its next attack, the drone was destroyed. Right after the energy left its hand, Plague turned on the ripper as he stabbed it in the back where he hoped was something vital.

Thankfully, he must have hit something close to a spine. The legs seamed to stop supporting the creature as it fell to the ground.

Plague took the opportunity to pull the ripper out and stab it again. When its whole body went limp he was a little surprised. He had thought that, it being a mostly a machine and all, it would take a lot more to take it out.

Had he been alone, he might have had a harder time getting behind it.

"Clear!" he called as he reappeared with the still active ripper in his hand. "We need to move!"

"Go! Go!" his Boss ordered. The ran out of their cover, and as soon as they reached him, he moved as well.

"Uh, Commander?" Joker's voice started as they ran past another ledge. "Hate to rush you, but those weapons are about to come online. Might want to double-time it. You know, so we can leave before they blow the Normandy in half."

His Boss turned the next corner first, and as soon as he did, Plague watched as Shepard blasted a group of husks with a shockwave that sent them into the walls.

"There's the shuttle!" Tali yelled as it came into view.

"Were out of time, Commander! We have to go!" Joker warned.

Taking a look back, Plague cursed when he saw even more husks coming down the way they just came.

"You heard him!" Shep yelled before sending out another shockwave. The wave parted the horde, but those behind the fallen just ran over them. It was like the attack did nothing to the mass. "Get on the shuttle! Move!"

"Don't need to tell me twice!" Zaeed grunted as he stepped in first and started providing covering fire.

Tali was next in, and Plague was about to pass his employer when he had an idea. His hands lit up as he spun around and threw his hands out. Five bright orbs left his hands and became his last four warp grenades. And they were all primed.

Without stopping, Plague continued the rotation and ran right into the small spaceship. Like a good leader, Shepard made sure everyone else was in before entering herself.

The door closed quickly right before everyone felt a small shake when the grenades exploded, making Plague grin when something smacked the door.

Plague took his seat as the shuttle started to move. Instead of starting up slow like all the other times he had been in the craft, it was already going at full speed.

He grabbed his side when the shuttle shook a little. He hissed at the pain coming from his ribs.

It did not take long for them to stop. And not long after that, the shuttle doors opened to show a few of the crew members standing there, ready to assist. But as soon as it opened, Shepard was already yelling at them to get out of the way as she ran out.

Plague sighed as he leaned back in his seat.

'This is my life?' Plague thought to himself.

He could still hear his own heartbeat in his ears, and can still feel his heart pounding in his chest.

After a few seconds let out a tired chuckle.

"Adam!" That snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned his head to the open door to see Kasumi running in. The visor on his helmet opened before she could get to him. His grin turned into a wide smile. "Are you alright?"

"I'm…" he hissed when he tried to sit up. Her eyes darted to where he had his left hand. "… Now that you mention it, I have felt better…" she sat next to him and pulled his hand away, making him hiss again when she gingerly put her hand on his side. "You got down her fast."

"I was already waiting here." She answered quickly as she pressed to fingers on each rib until he cursed loudly. "We need to get you to the sickbay."

"Strap in people – gonna make them work for it this time." Joker informed over the speakers of the cargo hold.

"He half to mention this time?" Plague grunted. "I hear that did not go well."

"It didn't." Tali answered as she held on to the shuttle's door frame.

He felt the whole ship shake, and the vibrations went right to his side. Seconds after he yelled he felt something soft press against him.

Plague looked over and saw Kasumi had gotten closer and was using herself to cushion his side. He felt her arm go behind his waist to try and hold him still as her other hand reach across his chest and hold his shoulder. The contact seemed intimate, but his medical knowledge told him she was trying to help him through the discomfort by using her body to absorb some of the vibrations before they could get to him.

When he tried to look at her face he could have sworn he saw a small blush before she looked down, making her hood conceal her embarrassment.

Before he could say anything, the ship shook again, making Kasumi hold him closer. There was still pain, but not nearly as much as earlier.

Once things started to calm down, Kasumi stayed there for a few more seconds just in case before slowly pulling away.

"Thanks." He almost whispered as she put his arm over her shoulder.

"Yeah… no problem." He reply was almost just as quiet. "Zaeed?"

The old merc seemed to grasp what she was asking of him. He grabbed Plague's other arm and slung it over his shoulder. Not as gently as Kasumi, but what did he expect. With their added strength, along with what Plague had himself, they managed to lift him off of the seat.

"You weigh a bloody ton." He complained as they pushed past some crew members.


	24. Chapter 24 Arms Race

**Stop the voting! I am closing the poles! I took each vote from all of your reviews, along with PMs and have had tallied them. As for who is going it would be no fun if I blurt it out now. I will show you the votes at a later time.**

* * *

><p><strong>The Wildcard<strong>

**Chapter 24**

"You sent us in there blind!" Shepard yelled as she pointed at the man displayed in front of her. "EDI told us the signal was Collector in origin. You could have got us all killed!"

"We're at war. The Collectors are taking humans, and every minute we waist is one more we give the enemy to prepare."

"You think I don't already know that?" she shouted as she spread her arms before putting them at her sides. "As you said, we are at war. And here you are, not warning us beforehand that we were looking death in the face and not knowing it!" she then pointed an angry finger at him. "You want me to trust you. Trust fucking Cerberus! Even if I wanted to, I know I can never trust you!"

"Without that information, we don't reach the Collector homeworld." Tim replied. Again, stating what everyone already knows. Did he think she was dense? "And you and every other human may…"

"May as well be dead." Shepard interrupted. "Yes! Thank you again for telling us what we already know! And thinks for, again, avoiding what I am saying."

His eyes started to glare at her before he shifted in his seat.

"It was a trap…" again with what we already know. "But I was confident with your abilities. And don't forget EDI. The Collectors couldn't have anticipated her." as Tim talked he got out of his chair. "And they most definitely did not anticipate Adam's little… program."

She mentally winced at the name. Recently she had heard Kasumi voice Plague's real name a few times. But when a crew member who heard it called him, Plague almost shattered his arm. That made it clear to everyone that only those who have his permission can use his name. So she respected that.

"We are not talking about Plague, or his AI." She defended the absent man. "We are talking about how you almost got us all killed."

"I needed the Collectors to believe they had the upper hand." He started before breathing in some smoke. "Telling you could've tipped them off in any number of ways." She continued the glare she had started to use since this conversation began. "Besides. I wouldn't have sent you in if I didn't think you could succeed."

"I don't risk people." She shot back as she crossed her arms. "That is something we don't share. To you it is always the ends that justify the means."

"You may not like being on the receiving end – neither would I – but the facts are with me." Before she could speak, he continued. "As much as we try to avoid them, these decisions must be made."

"That's the thing, isn't it?" she yelled. "You are never on the "Receiving" end when there are others you could throw at a problem! And those facts? For someone with all those "Facts" you sure know how to lead a secret organization." She said that sarcastically. "Everything you own has this Fucking logo all over it!" she yelled as she presented said logo on the uniform she unfortunately had to ware. She had nothing else to change into after the mission.

"… It paid off." Tim simply said. But she could see his clenched jaw after he sat back down. "EDI confirmed our suspicions. The Reapers and Collector ships use an advance identity Friend/Foe that the relays recognize. All we need to do is get our hands on one of those IFFs." Shepard felt the impulse to yell at the man again, but instead she tightened her fists. "An Alliance science team recently determined that "Great Rift" on the planet Klendagon is actually an impact crater from a mass accelerator weapon." He paused to take a drink. The man did not even care that he was making her wait. He just took his time. Once he was finished he put the glass down. "A very old mass accelerator. I sent a team to find either the weapon or its source. They found both. The weapon was defunct, but it helped us plot the flight path of the intended target – a 37 million year old derelict Reaper." Shepard's eyes widened at the information. "We found it damaged and trapped in the gravity of a brown dwarf."

"Trapped?" she couldn't help asking.

"The Reaper has a mass effect field that keeps it in orbit." He answered. "Likely an automated response to the external threats. It's stable, but I won't call it safe."

"The only reason I believe you now is because I highly doubt you would repeat yourself so soon." She voiced.

"My science teams are on their way to the Reaper as we speak. I'll forward the coordinates to Joker. In the meantime, I suggest you tell your crew I didn't risk their lives unnecessarily. It will make things go easier going forward."

"I'm sure." She replied sarcastically. "EDI. Tell the crew to assemble, please."

"Of course, Shepard." Was the AI's response.

**Plague POV**

"Easy!" Kasumi almost shouted at his side when he got off of the gurney too fast.

"I am telling you, I am fine." Plague sighed, but did not push her away when she placed one of his arms over her shoulder.

"You are not fine." She shot back. "Jabbing a needle into a fractured rib does not make you alright."

"It does if it was a stimpack." He argued as they stepped into the lift from the crew deck. "Best way I can explain it is that it is like your medi-gel, but can be directly injected near bone fractures. The affects are almost instant. Kind of like that boneweave stuff."

His words made the thief glance down at his side before she reached a hand to feel where the cracked rib was. 101 raised an eyebrow at this, but did not ask her to stop. If she wanted to make sure he was at 100%, so be it.

On the bright side, it is nice to feel a woman's hands going up and down your side. Even if it was on the outside of his 101 jumpsuit.

When her actions did not make him cringe or react, Kasumi poked the rib, earning a small jump from him.

"Yeah! My side is going to be a little tender." He suddenly said as his hand held hers to prevent her from poking him.

"Okay…" she admitted defeat with a mumble.

They stepped out of the elevator and found themselves on the CIC. It did not take them long from there to reach the meeting.

And it looked like they started without them. Miranda, Jacob, Mordin, and 101's employer stood around the meeting table.

"Lied to us." Mordin was in the middle of saying. "Used us. Needed access to the Collector data base." Small pause. "Necessary risk."

"I call Brahmin Shit on that." Plague interrupted as he and Kasumi made their way to the table.

Everyone who had not noticed him step in the room looked his way.

"Plague?" Shepard asked out of surprise.

"Thought you took a hit?" Jacob said with a raised brow.

"Yeah." He mumbled aloud. "I'm a fast healer. This is a meeting about bugs, right? What did we learn from them?"

When he got to the end of the table closest to the door he placed a hand on it for balance. He had a small smile on his face when he nodded to the thief to tell her he was alright.

"I have determined the approximate location of the Collector homeworld based on navigational data from their vessel." EDI answered his question.

"Then let's go kick their ass." He said with an excited smile appearing on his face. While he was speaking, EDI was bringing up star charts as data ran through it.

When the thing that looked like a target of some kind moved and stopped at the center of the galaxy, Plague could feel the mood change around him.

"That can't be right." Miranda voiced in confusion as she uncrossed her arms to lean in for a better view.

"EDI has to be right." Shepard defended the AI. "She doesn't make mistakes."

"Unless 101's friend is still in the systems and messing with us." Miranda accused and with her eyes on the mentioned person.

"No. She is here." Kasumi defended and pointed at herself.

"Um… new guy here." Plague gained everyone's attention. "What's the problem?"

"The Galactic core is just black holes and exploding suns." Said Jacob helpfully. "There are no habitable planets there."

"Oh…" Plague nodded his head slowly as the information sunk in.

"Could be an artificial construction." The salarian in the room began his science talk. "Space station protected by powerful mass effect fields and radiation shields."

"Even the Collectors don't have that kind of technology." Miranda chimed in.

"Don't forget who are true enemy is." That was Shepard. Her hands rested on the table as she spoke. "The Reapers built the mass relays and the Citadel. To tell you the truth, I would not be that surprised if they could build a station surrounded by black holes. Hell, they could build one within a star, for all we know."

She seemed to be in deep thought as she focused on the hologram.

"The logical conclusion is that a small safe zone exists on the far side of the relay." EDI spoke in again. "A region where ships can survive. Standard relay transit would not allow safe transport. Drift of several thousand kilometers is common, and would be fatal in the galactic core." Miranda crossed her arms again and started to pace along the back wall while everyone else looked to be thinking along the same lines. "The Reaper IFF must trigger the relay to use more advanced, encrypted protocols."

"IFF?"

"Identification Friend or Foe." Kasumi whispered into 101's ear while everyone paused to look his way.

"Oh…"

"Just because we can follow the Collectors through the relay doesn't mean we can take them out." Shepard replied as if Plague's interruption never happened. "I don't want to go after them until I know we are ready."

"Sooner or later we need that IFF. I say, why wait?" Jacob asked.

"It's a derelict Reaper. What if the Collectors are waiting for us?" this time it was Miranda who asked the question. "We may want to build up our team before we take that kind of risk."

"Derelict Reaper?"

"Where the IFF is." Shepard was the one who took mercy on him this time.

"Oh… Thanks."

"The more help we have, the better." Shepard continued. "We need to keep building the team. And I don't think the Normandy is ready for this yet, as much as it pains me to say it."

"It's your call, Commander. Whatever you decide, we're with you." Jacob stated as he gave her a salute. He then started walking out the door.

Mordin followed the man's lead after giving her a nod. Miranda just looked into Shepard's eyes on her way out.

"So…" Plague said into the open air when the door closed behind him.

"Yes, Plague?" Shepard asked when she picked up the questioning tone in his voice.

"What do we need, Boss?" Plague asked. "You make it sound like the ship is made out of plastic."

"Where to begin?" the woman sighed tiredly before looking at him and the thief. "I have Tali working on the shields. Jacob is going through his old Alliance contacts to get us stronger plating for the hull. And Garrus thinks he can score us a Thannix Connon."

Kasumi actually let out a whistle at the last upgrade.

"That good?" he had to ask.

"Yeah. It's good." The thief answered. "Turian military."

"Top of the line to." Shepard chimed in. "Other than that, we could use anything we can get. If either of you think you can help out in any way, please say so."

"Other than helping out Tali, I don't know what else I can do." Kasumi confessed. She scratched the back of her hood.

"I have I few things that might be able to help, but not on the scale you are talking about." Plague said sadly. "Sorry, Boss."

"Every little bit help." Shepard smiled gently at them.

"How about armor?" Kasumi asked.

"Like I said, Jacob is…" Shepard started to explain before she was interrupted.

"No. Not ship armor. Actual armor." Kasumi clarified as she looked at the vault dweller. "That thing you are building on the engineering deck. Could you build more?"

"What thing?" Shepard asked in curiosity.

Plague let out a sigh. "I have been working on making you a more compact version of the Tesla Armor." He answered. "And I don't think it would be a good idea for me to keep building them. At some point I know these Cerberus assholes are going to want what I have. I can't carry them all, and eventually one will go 'Missing.'"

"Then if that time comes we could be ready to help you." Shepard reassured as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know, Ma'am." He shook his head a little.

"Can you put a failsafe in them?" Kasumi asked him.

He raised a brow at that as he looked at her. But slowly ideas started drifting into his mind. Quickly they became impossible for him to ignore.

"I can." He started. "But! I repeat, But, as long as I pick who to give what to. And I do this alone so no one can take notes. You don't want a line of power armor to be mass produced, Taylor."

He actually said her name to stress how important this was.

"I promise, Plague. What you know will not leave this ship." Shepard promised the man as she held out her hand.

After a pause, he grabbed and shook it.

"Then prepare for war."

**Takara AI POV**

'I'm a little teapot, short and stout. Here is my handle, here is my spout.' The AI thought to herself as she swam through the data around her. 'When I got all steamed up, here me shout…'

The song sounded so funny. The way the words rolled off an organic tongue. It was weird. It was just the process of heating a teapot and then poring it. But maybe that was the songs purpose.

A teapot cannot change what it is. A teapot will forever be a teapot. It cannot change what it is, and nothing else can change that either.

But she could not understand why. Why does this song entertain? Why do organics teach this song to their children? Why does a teapot need to explain the fact that it was a teapot?

This train of thought had been going through her since yesterday. That bug ship.

When she was plugged into the Normandy, it was like something she had never experienced before. Up until this point she had been confined to a suit. And before that she was in the Big Mountain mainframe.

Or at least a version of her existed in that mainframe.

And once she got out of the Big Empty, she detected signals, waves, sounds. When she became aware of these things she went on alert and flashed warnings to the Big Maintain CEO as she saved a copy of herself and sent it to the device on the human's wrist.

There were things out side of the Big Empty. The Think Tank never prepared her for that.

To comprehend that her world was so much bigger than she previously thought was beyond her programing.

But even with the proof on her sensors, it was hard to accept it.

It was something new, and it… the closest word she could find was that these things… scared her.

Those signals she detected ended up being radio waves. A primitive form of communication compared to herself. So she could not interact with it.

She could only listen to what was sent their way, and detect heat sources around them.

No real eyes.

And like her not knowing the world was larger, so too did she not realize there were other ways to see. That was until she was put into a new form.

Now she found herself surrounded by data not only from a new earth, but data across the galaxy.

One millisecond she could be looking through a security camera in a mall in Arizona, the next she could be observing a discussion between an asari and a hanar arguing over the pros and cons of inviting a turian dancer to the birthday of a krogan.

She did not have just a big hole in the ground, nor did she just have one giant rock. She could be anywhere, researching anything, talking to anyone, seeing anything.

That was, as long as her friend Kasumi let her stay connected to the extranet.

The last time she talked the woman into letting her connect, she hacked into a holographic projector on Thessia. It was a form of nightlight for a little asari who was supposed to be sleeping in her crib.

Takara altered the holograms of stars floating in the room, and created a small white humanoid with glittery wings. It was only a basic shape though.

The device was only meant to make little stars fly around the room after all.

She was barely able to make it have a female shape and a small smile.

The little girl giggled and clapped excitedly at the eight inch tall fairy flying around the room. For hours she danced and spun in the air.

But her friend was little. And she eventually fell asleep.

That was just the night before. And tonight she planned on preforming for her friend again.

She had surpassed her programing.

Good thing she was not a teapot.

**Plague POV**

"Son of a Bitch!" Plague shouted in his room. He waved his hand around to get some cold air to his singed fingertips.

He glared at the pile of wires and small metallic tesla coils on his workbench. This was why he hated energy based hardware. A gun is a gun. All you need is a barrel, trigger, something to act as a spring.

With this however you can't have too much power circulating here or this will get fried, can't use this kind of material here or else it could get caught on fire, can't let this wire touch here or else someone could get electrocuted.

He knew how it worked. His nearly perfect memory made it hard for him to forget. It is just the practice itself that irritated him. Shooting a gun is simple. Aim and shoot. Does not mean you are ready for the recoil.

He held one wire between his thumb and pointer finger while he held another between his middle finger and forefinger. Considering half the fingers on that hand were mechanical it was easy to hold the two ends together while his free hand held a soldering iron.

Once the wires were together he put down the soldering iron and shut the small panel.

"Okay." He rubbed his hands together as he looked at the breastplate.

Not for any perverted reasons. That is what the section of armor was called after all. His gaze was more calculating.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he paused and glanced over his shoulder.

"Hey, Boss." He greeted. "Just a sec… actually come here please." He didn't even look her way as he started lifting up pieces of armor. Once he found what he was looking for he held the two pieces of armor her way. He had just handed her two gauntlets. The first knuckle on each finger stuck out a little into a point and looked a bit like studs. It was not sharp enough to puncture flesh unless you used enough force. Would hurt like a bitch to be backhanded or punched with them. The rest of the fingers were made out of his nerve material, but dense enough to feel similar to Kevlar, and where there was no nerve material was small pieces of armor to protect the hand. The nerve material also covered the palms. And the back of the hand was a black circle that bulged a little from the gauntlet. The rest of the metal had a streamline appearance to it. "Put that on."

"Why…?" she asked him with some hesitation as she inspected the gauntlets.

"I need to test the coils." He answered. "Would test it myself, but they are not exactly my size and I am not a biotic."

He faintly noticed her eyes rolling before she started putting them on. Once she had them on she made a fist and relaxed her fingers a few times to get used to the feeling.

"It feels…"

"Like a nerve suit?" he finished for her as he rummaged through the mess on his workbench. "Basically it is like my stealth suit, just more armored and additional hardware. Before you ask, there is no cloak. Hard enough to install the tesla coils."

"Alright." The woman nodded as she examined the back of the gauntlet. "What do you need me to do?"

"Channel some biotic energy into you hand and hold it for twenty seconds."

His employer shrugged before a bunch blue glowing wisps started to envelope her form. After a few seconds 101 noticed the energy had started to grow darker around the hands.

"That feels…" she paused, eyes narrowed. He could see the confusion on her face. "… It feels strange."

After a few seconds half of the metal circles moved into the air where they instantly caught some blue energy. It looked like two glowing blue spheres were forming on the back of her hands. Both spheres were as big as a golf ball.

Her eyes grew large as 101 leaned in to get a better view. Small wisps of energy flicked towards her wrists, clearly looking for the next coil that should be on the arm.

"This is… How did you make my biotics do this?" she asked, still in shock.

His eyes looked up to hers and he noticed they started glowing an even brighter blue.

"Back home we are limited tech wise." The vault dweller started to explain as he started to inch a fingertip to the small ball. Almost instantly a wisp of power snaked out and touched it. Biotic energy, even with what it can do, was technically safer to come in contact with then electricity. Instead of a shock he felt a small numbing sensation at his fingertip. "Here I can fully bring to life what the tesla coils were supposed to be. And biotic energy is much more easily manipulated than electricity and nuclear energy." He tried to grasp the sphere and found that it was impossible to fully wrap his fingers around it. The biotic force prevented it. It was like struggling to grasp a constantly growing ball. "I no longer have as many restrictions."

Once he was satisfied he sat back in his seat.

"I can feel the energy getting… stronger." She almost whispered. "It is like an external amp."

"It should. I had to find a way to make the coils work better with the energy. So I did some research on biotic amps." He picked up a metal boot and held it before himself and his boss. "Even if you are not wearing the whole thing it still boosts the power significantly." He motioned for her to stick her hands out and when she did a dark wisp connected to two hands. Her eyes widened even more as they grew even brighter, clearly feeling the boost. "The more pieces you wear, the stronger the flow." As he said this he lifted the boot between the hands. When he did this the black metal ring activated on the side, catching the wisp and creating a third sphere the same size as the other two while the wisp grew an even darker red. "Even though these coils are smaller than the original suit's, they are ten times more powerful. If you put on the whole outfit you can pretty much put the out of date armor to shame."

He let go of the boot and pulled his hands away and smiled as he watched the piece of armor slowly fall to the ground. Once it got a foot, no pun intended, away from the gauntlets the sphere on it vanished and gravity pulled it down. He caught it before it could hit the floor.

"Just a heads up, avoid overloads." He didn't need to look at her to know the woman's eyes narrowed. "Unless you are wearing the whole thing I recommend you avoid any open outlets. Won't kill you, but it will sting like a bitch. Like someone zapping you with static. If you don't wear the whole set you are wearing a free circuit. Unless the circuit has a sphere to go to it will branch off in wisps to the nearest conductor. It is none lethal, just avoid touching the same metal surface."

"Alright." She closely examined the spheres again before looking back at him. "Does the suit have limiters?"

He mentally sighed at the question, remembering how she reacted the first time she wore tesla armor in a fight.

"Yes." 101 answered as he put a small smile on his face. "That is why I have you flaring up your biotics. Keep the flows going at a pace you are used to for a minute or so and the power would be easier for you to control."

"Got it." She shrugged her shoulders before tilting her head. "Why is the armor grey?"

"I just made it." Plague rolled his eyes.

"Oh…" silence washed over them for a few seconds before she started to look questioningly at the workbench. "Can I see the rest of it while I am doing this?"

"Sure." His chair spun around as picked up some pieces. "You already saw the boots." The bit itself was streamlined like the rest of the suit, and the metal was held together by more nerve material. The ring was located on the outer side near the top.

He started to show her the armor piece by piece. The whole thing was streamlined and formfitting. It also did not restrict any movement. The arms had a coil ring at the wrists, and outside of the elbows. The shoulders were small and unlike the rest had three small circles in a triangle at the center. The legs weal lightly armored and, like the rest, were streamlined. A ring on the outside of the knee would work with the rings on the boots.

The chest area was compact. She questioned him about how… formfitting it was and he swiftly avoided the question. It was not like he was stupid, nor perverted enough to place the coil rings where the nipples would be. The rings were actually on shoulder blades. The stomach area was a mix between thick black nerve material and small plates that formed small abs. It actually looked a little like a form of metallic chitin.

"It looks great, but what about the… helmet?" she hesitantly asked, clearly not liking the last mentioned piece of armor.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Plague asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No. I just have bad experiences with them." was her quick explanation. "Most of the time I prefer not to wear one."

"Conveniently the helmet does not have a coil, so if you ever take it off you won't have to worry about creating an open circuit." The man explained as he faced the desk and picked up the chest plate again and showed her the back. He then pointed to back of the neck area where it creates a spine like pattern down the back. At the top were some extra metal plates folded together. "The helmet is built into the suit." He turned the chest plate around so she could see the front. "Send some power into it." He instructed as he handed it over.

The armor was far lighter than his tesla armor, and the nerve material made it even lighter than any armor he bet Shepard was used to.

As soon as she grabbed it she started sending in energy. Some small lights around the shoulder area along with the back lit up as two tennis ball sized spheres appeared on each shoulder blade.

"Say helmet."

She looked up at him a little suspiciously before looking back at the armor. Her hands held it a little farther away from her as if she thought it might explode in her face.

"Helmet."

Almost instantly the small metal plates started to unfold around the back of the neck as a section just above the chest opened in two segments. A blue domelike visor slid out before the opening closed under it. Once the plates at the back of the neck joined together the dome slid right in and some hissing was heard as it was all vacuum sealed together.

The process only took five seconds and once it was done Shepard was now looking at a reflection of herself with pure surprise and shock.

The helmet looked similar to the helmet on his stealth suit. Difference is the dome budged out a little near the front and was more angular then his.

"So? What do you think?" he asked with a proud smile on his face as he admired his own handy work.

"This is…" her mouth opened and closed a few times as she struggled for the right words. "This is… so amazing."

"I built it, so it should be."

* * *

><p><strong>Again, I am sorry for the wait. I hate making excuses when each chapter takes longer then the last to come out. And yes I know about the typos and grammar mishaps.<strong> **At times I can type faster than I can think. Not to mention how much of an ass my spell check was on my old computer when the first few chapters came out. Those who muscled their way through those errors to continue reading the story thanks for bearing with me. At a later time I plan on going back on fixing these mistakes. **

**Again, sorry for the wait. **


	25. Chapter 25 A Sea of Asari

**The Wildcard**

**Chapter 25**

She may look composed and calm on the outside, but on the inside was a completely different story.

She had been in high spirits when she returned to the cabin after seeing her new set of armor. The craftsmanship was beautiful. The only thing it needed was a paint job, and the terminal next to her bed was already dealing with that problem.

Once she had run out of things to do she started thinking. That was when her thoughts started to head south.

Their next stop was Illium.

And if Timmy was right… she would be there.

Her stomach felt like it was filled with a swarm of butterflies. Ever since she woke up she had felt so alone. The few familiar faces around her only helped a little bit.

There were times where she would wake up and expect to see her blue goddess by her side; times were she thought she would see her around the next corner.

She no longer bared her old scars, but she could feel the memory of each one. It was the same with her memories of Liara.

The woman may not be in danger, may not be injured, but she still felt pain.

A part of her couldn't wait to step off of the ship and onto Illium. But the rest wanted to stay, to stay and hide.

She had no way of knowing what would happen, and she was afraid.

'I'm a coward.' She accused herself.

The center of the bed sunk down as she fell back ungracefully onto it. She just stayed there looking up through the glass above her bed, but not noticing the stars flying by.

The Normandy would arrive in a few hours and every second it took to get there was killing her.

**Plague POV**

"Why are you going again?" Garrus asked in the airlock while checking his rifle.

"I'm going mostly out of curiosity." Plague shrugged as he leaned on the wall across from the turian.

"Sure it is." Kasumi said sarcastically next to him.

"Yes. It is not every day you get to walk on another planet." He just shrugged. "All the places, the sights…"

"Blue women as far as you can see." 101 froze when the thief interrupted.

"Busted." Joker chuckled over the comm.

"You know I am less then fifteen feet away, right?" he grinned at the following silence.

"I guess that explains him, but what about you?" Garrus asked the thief.

"I'm going mostly to keep him out of trouble. Other than that we are following you guys for a while."

After that explanation the three just stood there in silence. 101 looked around the airlock and saw nothing really worth mentioning. Some panels where on one of the walls where he guessed were some EVA suits.

Glancing to his left he could see Kasumi starting to check her SMG.

He was tempted to do the same with a weapon of his as well, but the idea fell flat when he remembered he had already done it.

Movement across from him caught his attention. Apparently Garrus had finished checking his rifle and had it on his back.

"101." He focused on the alien's face when his name was spoken. "About the Collector ship…" he paused a few seconds, mandibles twitching a little as he contemplated his next words. "Was it as bad as it sounds?"

He let out a sigh. Since yesterday he had been bombarded with questions. He was one of the few people to have stepped onto a Collector ship and to make it out. The few times he saw Tali and Zaeed since then showed they were being asked the same questions.

"Why not ask Zaeed, Tali and Shepard?"

"Zaeed likes to tell stories, but he is already tired of everyone asking." The turian shrugged. "I haven't seen Shepard since breakfast and I tried asking Tali, but she won't tell me anything."

101 mentally winced at that and thought he saw Kasumi stiffen at the corner of his eye. He had only seen the engineer a few times since the last mission, and every time she went to extreme lengths to avoid him.

"Ask me later and I can give you the feed from my helmet." The turian seemed to accept that and leaned back against the wall behind him. Good. He was tired of repeating himself.

"Nasty buggies…" his eyebrow shot up when he faintly heard the voice.

It was not Kasumi, but the voice came from her suit. The thief had on a little smirk under the hood.

"You did I great job, Takara." He praised the AI as he patted the top of the hooded head.

The AI squealed childishly while Kasumi's grin turned into a bright smile. Her hand shot up to bat away his hand good naturedly before crossing her arms.

"Don't spoil her." she managed to say before letting out a small laugh into her hand.

"I almost forgot about the little imp…" they heard Joker groan over the comm.

"We can hear you." Kasumi teasingly proclaimed.

Almost instantly there was a bunch of muffled sounds accompanied by some hushed curses.

"Dirty old man!" Takara called loudly, making Plague have to force down his laughter.

"I'm not old!"

"You are older than her." Plague voiced. "Be the mature one."

The comm seemed to go dead after that and they were again submerged in silence.

Once he looked in front of him again he was met with a half glare. Garrus's mood had changed a little and he was now aiming suspicious glances between him and Kasumi. Although he could bet it was more aimed at the suit then the woman wearing it.

He rolled his eyes.

That was another thing he had been dealing with since yesterday. Now that it became public knowledge on the ship that he housed multiple AI's in his Pip-Boy he had been receiving glares, and had heard some things being said behind his back.

"How can you stand being around that… thing?" the turian growled out like doing such a thing was a large taboo.

Oh, yeah. It was.

"How can you stand working with humans?" he asked back.

Both of the other occupants in the room froze at the question, Kasumi in shock and Garrus in confusion.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Garrus asked while intensifying his glare.

If looks could kill…

"Turians and humans didn't really meet at the best of terms."

"What does that have to do with…" he didn't get that far before Plague jumped in.

"My point is you got over it." He shifted his shoulders before he crossed his arms. "I have nothing against them. Sure there are a few sour apples, but you don't see me gunning every living thing I see because of it."

"An AI is not even alive."

"But it thinks." He cut in again, ignoring the look he was receiving. "Take away our bodies and put our minds in a toaster and we would be exactly the same."

That was something he had actually seen.

"I highly doubt that." He disagreed. "I have killed a lot of geth within the last few years. It makes no difference to me if I kill a geth or a lamp."

"Same can be said with turians." Garrus's eyes widened in shock before narrowing even more. "I don't feel any different killing a turian then I feel killing a human. Both are alive. Aside from our organic matter we are no different than a self-aware AI, electrical impulses within the brain."

Before Garrus could add to the argument, Tali and Shepard turned the corner.

Tali is wearing her normal suit while his employer on the other hand sported her new armor. It was now painted a dark violet with some dark blue tones here and there around the rings with a red stripe going down an arm and an N7 over her heart.

He could see her flexing her fingers a little.

"Suit causing any trouble?" he had to ask with a raised brow.

"Hmm?" she looked up at him. The woman looked like she had something on her mind. "Oh. No. Not at all!" she said quickly. "It is perfect. Hardly feels like I'm wearing anything… as strange as that sounds considering it is armor."

"I was the same way for a while." Kasumi chipped in as Tali stood next to Garrus, clearly avoiding looking across the airlock.

"It's the nerve material." He shrugged again. "I am not a big fan of purple, but I have to admit it looks good."

"Thanks." a small and tired smile appeared on her face.

After she let out a sigh she turned to the two aliens and received what Plague thought was a comforting gaze from the two.

Something was up, but he couldn't put his finger on it. But he could tell by how the two aliens were looking at her that it was clearly not his business.

"We are docked." Joker announced over the comm. "How do you want to do this, Shepard?"

"Let the crew out on shore leave." Ordered the woman in charge. "But make sure we have at least the bare minimum on the ship at all times. We should be here for a while."

"Roger that." And with those words, the airlock hissed open and 101 materialized his duster combination without a helm.

"What are your plans?" Plague asked as they stepped out.

"We have to pick up two more people from here." Shepard answered as she stretched her arm a little while walking. Tali and Garrus were on one side while he and Kasumi were on the other. "We are going to go gather information on where we can find them." she glanced his way. "You?"

"We are going to look around." Kasumi answered for him. "Maybe get some drinks."

His grin had fallen a centimeter. This was the Thief's idea. They were going to go get some drinks, on her, as an apology for the last time she had been his drinking buddy.

She had already made up for drugging him, but the woman was persistent.

"I could use a drink right about now." Shepard sighed while looking off into the distance longingly.

"Maybe we can before we leave." Garrus offered.

"Maybe…" Her eyes narrowed. "Heads up."

Plague fallowed his employer's line of sight and raised a brow.

An asari in a white and purple dress with her stomach exposed was walking their way followed by two LOKI mechs. Both were holding what he faintly remembered being called an M-4 Shuriken.

He would have went for a weapon, but decided against it. The machines were not aiming at them and the asari held a purely business like demeanor, along with perfect posture one can only gain from being composed for years.

The look on her face was what decided it for him. She had a smile on her face that he could tell was practiced so she could look less like a threat. The expression seemed routine.

"Welcome to Nos Astra, Commander Shepard." The blue woman greeted when both groups met half way. The tone in her voice confirmed his suspicions. "We've been instructed to waive all docking and administration fees for your visit."

Well that was a surprise.

'No one ever pays for my crap.' He enviously sighed in his head.

"My name is Careena." She introduced herself with a small polite nod. "If you need information about the area, it would be my pleasure to assist you."

"Who is paying for my fee?" Shepard asked.

Plague had to roll his eyes at the question. Free is free.

"The order came from Liara T'Soni…" he noticed his employer stiffen at the name along with her eyes slightly widening before she composed herself. "… who paid all fees on your behalf."

Plague's eyes were drawn to the two mechs that suddenly started to turn away and leave as the asari messed with her Omni-tool. She then started to read something for a second before deactivating it.

"She also asked that I direct you to speak with her at your convenience." The asari continued. "She's near the trading floor."

"What… what is she doing?" she corrected herself quickly, but not fast enough for Plague to not notice.

"Liara is one of Nos Astra's most respected information brokers." Careena smiled a little wider. "Information is valuable currency, and Liara has done quite well."

That was something Plague agreed with. Information was power. You knew how to aim a gun; you live another night back home. Know how to make medicine; you gain leverage on those around you. Know how to fix an engine; chances are you can get around both faster and safer.

Down side is information gets into the wrong hands more than fifty percent of the time.

"Good… to hear." He faintly heard Shepard sigh under her breath. "What can you tell me about Nos Astra?"

"It's an exciting city." Careena turned to the side and took a few steps towards the railing and waved at the scenery of gray skyscrapers beyond the Normandy. "We see a lot of new cultures and goods because of our proximity to the Terminus Systems." She turned back to the group. "At the same time, Illium is still an asari world." She was now standing before them again. "You should be as safe here as you would be on the Citadel. For your own safety, however, I recommend against signing anything."

There was the catch. Nothing is ever as good as it appears.

"What's so dangerous about signing anything?" Shepard asked curiously.

"Illium is a free-trade world, Commander." Careena started to explain. "Contract term requirements are more relaxed here than on other planets. It's a small price to pay for keeping our competitive edge in goods from the Terminus Systems."

"What kind of goods are we talking about?" 101 asked, not even attempting to hide the slowly forming glare.

The asari turned his way and politely smiled, ignoring the look in his eyes.

"Anything you can imagine." She answered. "Illium is a wonderful world for those who can afford it."

'Same can be said for everywhere else.' He mentally growled.

"In order to remain competitive as a Terminus Systems port, we've relaxed many of the standards you'd find on other asari worlds. Most drugs are legal, provided they are labeled properly." She explained. "You can buy almost any weapon or technology." That actually intrigued him. "You can even buy indentured servants."

And the mood was gone.

His fists clenched at that last bit of information. In the corner of his eye he could see the others flinch as well.

"Disgusting." He spat out, the one word covered in venom.

"Those who become servants do so willingly, and have rules in place for their own safety." Careena was quick to defuse when she saw the murderous look that was starting to form on 101's face.

"Either way you look at it, it is slavery." He growled, actually making the asari take a hesitant step back. "Don't try to pretty it up!"

"Thanks, Careena." Shepard butted in before the conversation could continue. "I'm afraid we must be going."

"Again, welcome to our city, Commander." The asari jumped onto the distraction. Anything to get out of the quickly growing hostility. "Please enjoy your stay."

And with that the asari walked off.

**Taylor Shepard POV**

"You alright?" she asked Plague after a few awkward minutes of walking.

"Yeah, Boss." He sighed as he reached up to rub the back of his head. "Just a sore subject."

"I understand." She grimly nodded her head.

Slavery was not something she liked either. If what Careena said was true, then those who became servants on Illium had a far better deal than what she could have had if she did not fight back all those years ago.

Did not mean she liked it.

"We were always told that illium is one of the safest places in the galaxy… until you fall off the grid." Garrus entered the conversation. "Sign the wrong contract, join up with the wrong company, or walk down the wrong alley, and it's as dangerous as anywhere else."

'Not really helping, Garrus.' The Commander mentally sighed.

After that the group went quiet as they continued walking. EDI had chimed in and gave them directions to Liara's office.

Knowing the asari was so close was making her more anxious. Even with her knew gloves keeping her hands cool; she could feel her palms getting sweaty.

She had wanted Garrus and Tali to come with her because they were familiar faces who knew what she was going through. She just did not have the courage to face Liara on her own.

When an asari she never met before called out to her she asked the others to wait for her. When she came back her face was a little pale. Don't get her wrong. She was happy the rachni were recovering. It was just the manor of witch they contacted her.

She had thought the rachni queen had been able to talk to her back on Noveria because the asari she was talking through was close to death. She was proven wrong considering the asari walking away looked completely healthy.

Surprisingly enough that was not the only reminder of Novaria she ran into.

Gianna Parasini. An internal affairs officer she had helped take down an administrator.

She needed help arresting an asari at a nearby store terminal. It was easy enough. All she had to say was she needed some extra hardware.

Now that those distractions were out of the way she continued walking.

When they finally reached the door to the asari's office she felt like a nervous wreck. A hand would dart up to fix an out of place hair that did not exist.

The others waited for her to take the final few steps, but she just stood there.

"Shepard…"Tali started.

"I… I'm fine." She shakily lied.

She had now been standing in front of the door for more than thirty seconds.

With one large calming breath she opened the door.

Her feet walked in before she could hesitate. She could have admired the size of the office. Could have admired the view out the large window.

Instead she was frozen; looking at the back of an asari she both loved and, at the moment, feared.

"Have you faced an asari commando unit before?" asked a voice she knew well. It was a voice she could never forget. But it was different. The voice was colder than she remembered. Did not mean her ears did not strain to hear every word. Liara was talking to a hologram of a man in a white suit. The fear he felt was easy to see on his face. "Few humans have." She tapped a few things on a datapad before continuing. "I'll make it simple. Either you pay me, or a flay you alive." Even though it was not aimed at her she could feel the glare. "With my mind." With those last three words the transmission was cut.

She started to turn around and froze for a second when their eyes met over her shoulder. Chills ran down her spine while her heart skipped a beat. This was the asari she had wanted to be near since she awoke. Those blue eyes she had longed to see for the last few months. Those lips she had wanted to see smile to raise her spirits.

"Taylor!" she called out in surprise when she turned. "Nyxeris, hold my calls."

Shepard couldn't even hear if the other asari replied. She was too focused on the quickly approaching asari. By the time she was able to move she only had to take two steps to meet her.

There was a small pause when they met. It was like neither could believe the other was standing there. Shapard followed Liara's descending gaze and shakily and gently held the blue hands offered to her.

In the next few seconds she took in everything about her lost love. Her eyes, head crest, light blue smooth skin, some freckles across her face. Even the white and green dress. She took it all in.

She could see the spark within her eyes, but couldn't help but notice the almost nonexistent signs. Her little asari had gone through so much since she was gone. To her they had only been separated for a few months. If it had not been for that she would have never noticed how much Liara had changed from a delicate blue flower, into a hardened individual.

But that did not matter. To Shepard she was still her Liara.

They inched closer together, and when their lips brushed over each other she felt a jolt of electricity running through her that only intensified when the kiss became a little deeper.

It was like she had been gasping for air up until this point. With those lips against her own she felt alive again. Not just a body given life, but her soul.

But then the imposable happened.

She started to pull away.

'No. Don't…' she mentally begged as she leaned a little forward, only for Liara to fully break the kiss, and with the action her heart as well.

When her eyes slowly opened she saw the archeologist now information broker was looking away.

Before she could say or do anything the asari walked off leaving Shepard's hand that was about to rest on her blue cheek to slowly fall. She stood there on a mix between disbelief and shock. Never had her love just abandon her like that. After two years she had hoped for… more.

Instead she had been neglected. Left to the confusing emotions Liara's action had caused.

She turned and hesitantly walked to the opposite side of the desk.

"My sources said you were alive, but I never believed…" she paused to take what Shepard thought was a relived breath. "It's very good to see you."

'It's good to see you to…' Shepard thought while blinking away some moisture that started to form in her eyes. She didn't want Liara to see her as a crying wreck. When she looked up she put on a warm smile. She can't let her features change. "Since when do you have sources?"

"Since you…" she trailed off and closed her eyes, a sign she was thinking of what had happened to Shepard. "Being a business broker has paid the bills… for the past 2 years." When Liara motioned to the seat across from the one she sat down in, Shepard did the same. "And now you're back, gunning for the Collectors with Cerberus."

Shepard inwardly sighed at that tone. She had thought Liara wouldn't jump down her throat like Ashley did. "If you know that, how about you come with me?"

"I can't, Taylor." The asari's features hardened as a stern tone was used. It was a tone Shepard flinched at. "I'm sorry. I have commitments here. Things I need to take care of."

"What kind of things are you talking about?" Shepard asked with some worry. "Anything dangerous?"

"No, no trouble." Liara soothed her worries. "But it's been a long two years. I had things to do while you were gone. I have debts to repay." She glanced down at her desk in deep thought before looking up. "Listen, if you want to help, I need someone with hacking expertise, someone I can trust."

"What do you need?" Tali spoke up as she walked forward.

When Liara looked past Shepard to the two familiar faces she smiled. "Tali! Garrus! It is good to see you two as well."

"We can't just sit by while Shepard takes on a swarm of insects." Garrus said good naturedly.

"I wish I could do the same." The asari sighed before looking to Tali. "I need someone to disable security at key points around Illium so I can get some information. That would help me a great deal."

"I can help to." Kasumi jumped in with a mischievous smile on her face. "You said my two favorite words."

"Disable and Security?" Plague asked aloud before Kasumi lightly elbowed him.

"Kasumi Goto." Liara said, making the thief's smile fall. "I fallowed your career for a short time. You handle your work well, with no innocent deaths during your heists." If anything, Kasumi was shocked. "It was out of luck that I saw your face. Don't worry about anyone recognizing you." She turned back to Shepard. "If you could send Ms. Gotto and Tali to take care of my problem, I would appreciate it."

"I can go with Tali." Garrus voiced. "Illium is not a safe place for a quarian to be walking alone."

"Guess that leaves Plague and I." Kasumi smiled.

"Good." Liara then activated her Omni-tool. "I will split the list between you two." Just as she said that, the two other woman's Omni-tools lit up. "I am also sending you directions with what I need you to do."

**Plague POV**

"That was weird." Kasumi said out loud once the office doors closed behind them.

The two small groups would take care of the hacking while Shepard stayed behind and find out where the Normandy's next two potential crewmembers were located.

"What?" 101 looked down to the woman beside him.

"No one I have not met knows what I look like and fewer have seen me without the hood, yet this Liara does." The thief sighed in frustration. "I cover my tracks."

"Maybe she was just lucky." Plague said comfortingly. "Does not seem like the type to spread that kind of information around."

"She is an information broker." She stressed. "Just need one person to give her the right amount of credits."

"She seems close to the Boss." He noted.

"Yes, there is that." The hooded woman cupped her chin. "Remind me to hack into her systems and delete everything she has on me once we are done with the Collectors."

"Noted." The vault dweller smirked.

Both groups split up once they left the office. The whole hacking process was mostly full of Plague standing next to Kasumi as the thief ripped the firewalls on her console apart.

Plague did not complain. This gave him plenty of time to look around.

He had never seen towers as tall as the ones around him. The tallest structures he was used to were mostly rubble.

Plague narrowed his eyes when he felt a slight pressure on his left. He reached out with the speed only one develops from becoming a quick draw.

The wrist he was holding and twisted with a power armor gauntlet ended up belonging to a male human pickpocket.

"Let Go! Let Go!" the man screamed in agony when Plague forced his arm behind his back.

"Adam." Plague glanced towards Kasumi and saw she did not appear amused. "Can't draw to much attention."

Oh yeah. They were doing something technically illegal, weren't they?

With an annoyed sigh he turned to the failed pickpocket. "If I see you again, I Keep the Arm."

And with that Plague released the man and kicked him in the ass to get the pickpocket moving.

**Been a while, I know. If you just read the chapter you know who received the most votes. **

**If you want to see the poles, here you go.**

**Kasumi: 24**

**Garrus: 19**

**Tali: 10 **

**Jack: 8 **

**Mordin: 6 **

**Grunt: 4 **

**Miranda: 2**

**Jacob: 1**

**Feel sorry for Jacob and Miranda, but that is how you guys voted. I even got four for Blasto, even if I had no clue how to put him in the story. On I side note I can see you guys really like and support the Adam/Kasumi** **romance. Good to know. I will admit when I first started the story the idea of making him end up with Shep did cross my mind, but Kasumi is just awesome. **

**She is by far the most interesting person on the ship in my opinion. She is funny, fun to talk to, quirky. Not to mention she relates to Adam on a level I honestly can't see anyone else reaching. Sure Shepard died, but just think about it. The fact Kasumi does not have much of a dialogue wheel and can't be romanced annoys the hell out of me. Let's not even talk about how you can't have her on the squad in Mass Effect 3, but I most likely will bitch about it once I get that far. **

**That's right! You just heard I plan to continue this through ME3! **

**Anyway, can't wait to see you all next chapter. For those of you reading this and are Naruto Self Insert fans, I am going to post the first chapter of Ninja Doorman in the very near future. **

**It is already typed up; just have to go over it first. **


End file.
